


My Life as a Teenage Bed-Wetter

by Sashabutters



Category: Original Work
Genre: Bed-Wetting, Dreams and Nightmares, Gen, High School, Humor, Mystery, POV First Person, Psychic Abilities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-12
Updated: 2015-09-12
Packaged: 2018-04-20 08:36:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 76,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4780823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sashabutters/pseuds/Sashabutters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Katie Devo is your average 15 year old high school sophomore living with her divorced, menopausal mother- until she begins having nightmares about her best friends death, which causes some unwanted side effects.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Katie Vs Menopausal Mother

Okay it all takes place in a town called Camarillo, California. It’s where all the rich, white kids live, excluding me, the rich part anyway; I’ve got plenty of white to go around.

I wake up to that annoying buzzing sound of my alarm clock, and of course the first thing I do is hit the snooze button, roll over, and go back to sleep. Then my mom comes in and yells at me to get my lazy butt out of bed because I’m going to make her late for work. And it’s not like she even drives me to school, no she makes me walk all the way there in the freezing cold. But, like most middle-aged women, she does not understand this concept of the word “cold” due to her persistent hot flashes.

Oh God, I’ll be so glad when this whole menopause thing will be over with, then I’ll finally be able to ride in the car in 40 degree weather with the heater on like most people instead of the AC.

My mom pops her head back in. “Why are there bottles of air fresheners in your dresser?”  
I look over, and to my horror, I left my personal drawer open. Thank God I didn’t have a nightmare last night. I jump up and close it, which causes her to raise an eyebrow in my direction.

“What? You’re the one always complaining that my room smells.”

“You're right. Besides to get that stale teenager smell out, you’re going to need a lot more then that; your room still stinks. It’s probably permanently saturated in the walls. I feel terrible for the next person who has to live in here.”

I throw my pillow at her, which in turn, she thankfully gets the picture and leaves.

I drag my butt out of bed… eventually, and crept through my room into the bathroom.  
After all that typical morning stuff, I stumble out, wet haired and groggy, over to my closet, while stepping over all of the clothes strewn about the floor, and open it up exhibiting my Goodwill collection of attire.

I comb through them for a split second, and examine my choices, which included: T-shirt and jeans, T-shirt and jeans, and another couple pairs of T-shirts and jeans. I quickly select a pair, it being an easy choice considering everything else currently residing on the floor, threw it on, and began the perilous journey of looking for that missing shoe. And what do you know, it was right where I left it, right under my bed along with a stapler, a Frisbee, three miss-matched socks, and of course hidden food wrappers from all those snuck up snacks from the kitchen.

I get up, drop my black and orange Vans shoe onto the ground and stick my foot in. I stand up and examine my room, making sure I haven’t forgotten anything.

My room looks like the typical teenage room, except it looks more like a guy’s room then anything. There’s a bunch of rock band posters pinned up on the walls, a floor (if you can find it) a computer sitting on a desk, (if you can find it) and a night table (something also to be on the lookout for).  
Then there’s the overflowing bookcase next to my twin size bed, which is slightly raised to accommodate a good material hiding possession place. You know, those things you have that you don’t want parents to see? What better place then to hide it under the bed? It’s so obvious, parents would think you’re smarter then that and snoop around somewhere else, when in reality, it’s in that detectable place all along and un-discovered.

I take full advantage of this hiding place whenever possible. Oops, did I say that? I mean, 

“Cough”…I have nothing to hide…*shifty eyes*

Alright, moving on, I finally wobble downstairs with my unfinished math homework from the night before tucked under my arm as to hide it from my mom. You know how moms get with that sort of thing, especially divorced, menopausal moms.

So while she’s in the other room I quickly jot down answers while she isn’t looking. C’mon, it’s algebra, who cares? Obviously she does since she caught me and we are yet again having this conversation. A loud, angry conversation I might add. We’ve had it so many times I think I’ve memorized it.

It usually goes a little something like this:

“Katie not again!” bellows my mom. “We’ve talked about this before!”

I watch nervously from behind my bowl of Lucky Charms as my mom paces the kitchen thinking of something to say.

I quickly begin to space out as she goes into her routine speech about how I need to be more like my brother. No thank-you. Thankfully Alex, my “should be role model” of a brother has already left for work. This gives me a computer talk free morning.

Sadly though, not everything can go my way. There’s now the fact that there is nothing to keep my mother from pestering me all morning. Not even a Hershey bar, which reminds me, I need to go to the store and stock up, because around here a bar of chocolate is like a get out of jail free card for when my mother’s in one of her moods.

I once went into Alex’s room to get a pencil and found a whole stash of them in a drawer. Being that he is male, I could only assume they’re for me and my mom.  
When I asked him about it, he said it was to tame the monster of PMS.

“Katie! Are you even listening to me?” God I wish I didn’t eat all of Alex’s stash.

“Yeah mom, I’m sorry” I say in one of those “I’m-so-sorry-I’ll-never-do-it-again” tones.

I attempt to concentrate on something else. If my mom asks why I’m not paying attention, I’ll tell the orange juice told me to concentrate on it instead.

I cautiously get up from the table as I watch her go into the next room to grab her stuff for work.

“Bye mom, I’m going to school.” I say as I grab my ten pound backpack and bolt out the front door before she has a chance to reply.

Yes! Freedom is only a couple blocks away.

I drift off to school trusting my feet to get me there, for my mind was so obviously else where.  
Thinking always makes a walk go by faster. Not like I was in a hurry to get to school, but only for the meager time I get to spend with my friends before setting off to prison.

When I arrive I immediately seek out my friend Allison, who is always by her locker that faces the secluded back of the school. This is also what we refer to as “make-out alley" because there is a long secluded stretch of lockers that is more hidden away from the rest of the school, and more preferably from all of the teachers.

Ewe, I know what your thinking you pervert. We don’t go over there to make-out. We only hang out there because it is the only part of the school where we can actually hear each other without screaming.

Another reason being all of the other people around here are too “busy” to care what we are doing. So we get to goof off as much as we want.  
Every time I go to meet her there I always try and sneak up to see if I can scare her. I never can.

“Trying to catch me again I see.” said Allison with a sigh as she took out her earphones. “Give it up, Katie, you can never scare me more that that does" she said pointing over her shoulder to a couple swapping tongues and gum.”

Okay, I have to admit, not even I could find that attractive.

“Aright, I’ll admit that that one is a little on the nauseating side.” I said as I tried my hardest to keep down my cereal.

“That’s because they all are.”

“If you got a boyfriend who would do that with you, I’m sure you wouldn’t be complaining then.”

She just rolls her eyes at me and says “You disgust me, let’s please just change the subject.” She can be such a pain in the butt sometimes.

“Fine, what do you want to talk about?” I say as I slump to the ground with my half “finished” math homework and a pencil and I occasionally fill in an answer.

“I don’t know.” Al says as she dials in her locker combination. I see her pull something out as she openly gapes at it. She can stand there with her mouth open all she wants, but it got me onto my feet faster then you can say “chocolate”. Which was what it was; a small box of chocolate.

“Whoa, where’d you get those?” I ask eyeing it.

“I don’t know. They were in my locker.” She says, still staring dumbfounded at the heart shaped box in her hand.

“Is there a card or something?” She flips it over to reveal a small sticky note attached on the back.

 

To: Allison Wallts  
From: A Lost Love  
I know love can be exhausting, but let me take your breath away.

 

“What the hell?” I say staring down at the sticky note. “Who writes that on a box of chocolate? I mean, writing I love you more then a fat kid loves cake would be more romantic then THAT.

“I’m just curious who they came from.” Al says as she continues to examine the box and note.

“The more important question right now is: are you going to open it?” I ask, begging her with my eyes.

She ignores my question and continues to mutter to herself, “Isn’t it a little early for valentines, it’s still January.”

“Now isn’t the time to play Nancy Drew, open it already. We’ll figure out where it comes from later.”

“No. You’ll eat them all. Besides, someone might like me.” she says, a smile growing on her face at the thought.

“Great. Now will you please open them? You’re killing me” I beg.

“You’ll live.” She says as she tears the plastic off, opens the lid and throws one in her mouth. “MMM caramel.” she says to tease me.

“What? Are you going to make me beg?”

“It’s so chewy and chocolaty!” she continues. I’ll take that as a yes. I scrunch up my face and stick out my hand.“Don’t give me that look! It’s not going to work.” I scrunch up my face some more and look sad.“Arrgh. Fine.” She says and sticks out the box in my direction. I grab a lumpy one, hoping for nuts and stick it in my mouth.

“I wonder who likes you.” I say through a mouth full of candy.

“I don’t know, if anybody. Maybe it’s that quiet guy that sits across from me in World History; I’ve caught him staring at me a few times, but I’m pretty sure it was the answers on my test instead that interested him.”

“Maybe.” I shrug holding out my hand for another piece. She must be really lost in thought; she actually gave me another one without teasing me or objecting. A rare, beautiful moment which I plan on taking full advantage of.

I toss the whole thing into my mouth and bite down; a bitterness springing into my mouth.

“What’s with the face? You eat coconut or something?”

I swallow it down with difficulty; my first mistake.

“No.” I say scraping my tongue with my finger, making an attempt to get the taste out of my mouth. “I think I got a stale one. Whoever he is, he’s a loser. He doesn’t even have enough class to get you a fresh box. Tasted like it’s been sitting in there since last Valentines Day.”

“Weird. Mine tasted fine.” She says, looking back down at the box. “Wait. You just want me to give you another one so you can “get the taste out of your mouth.” If you thought it was that gross, you wouldn’t have swallowed it.”

“Sounds like something I’d do, but really, it tasted funky.”

“Sure, whatever.” She says as she closes the box and stuffs them back in her locker. She closes her door and then freezes.

“What?” I ask as she furrows her eyebrows.

“How did it get in my locker?” she asks, staring at it.

“I don’t know. Maybe it was from someone who previously had this locker. Ooh. An older guy possibly.” I say. “It’s not like we can trust the school to change the combination.” She seems to lighten up at this.

“Well I got to go.” I say as the bell goes off. “I’ll see you at lunch.” I pick up my back pack, and un-finished math homework and walk over to Biology.

I immediately loose interest as the teacher drones on about ameba. I pull out my cell phone and text Jaclyn as I attempt to hide it in the pocket of my jacket.

“What’s up?” I ask, punching in the digits on the keypad.

“I’m in Econ. You?” she responds. 

Stupid me forgot to put it on silent mode, so I’m just sitting there pretending to be interested in the life cycles of bacteria when my cell phone rings and the classroom is filled with the sounds of Skillet. Then there’s the usual spin of heads that follows to see who was stupid enough to text during class and forget to turn off the ringer.

I quickly turn around in my seat and pretend to be looking too. I finally manage to slip my hand in my pocket and turn my cell phone off.

I try not to look embarrassed and focus on the teacher’s lecture about keeping your cell phone turned off during class.

It’s not like anyone listens to that, if you look under all the desks, there is usually a cell phone in half of the kids’ hands, I mean who seriously smiles at their crotch?  
My lab partner, an awkwardly skinny boy with sandy hair and freckles, leans over and whispers 

“Smooth one” in my ear as I begin to turn a bright shade of pink and sink down lower into the floor, willing for it to open up and swallow me in. But of course, to my displeasure, it doesn’t, so I’m forced to stick around and hope Mr. Lenard, the Biology teacher, doesn’t catch on as to why my face is a brighter shade of pink then his tie. Yes, he wears a pink tie, scary huh?

What happened in BED? (World History, we all call it that because we never can seem to stay awake). I have no idea, like always, I was asleep. The poor Ottoman Empire will have to be defeated without me.

Then of course there’s Algebra. We go through the usual routine, I hand in un-finished homework , get chewed out, turn my cell phone back on, get chewed out some more, get cell phone taken away, then go to sleep.

I know I need to be paying attention to this and all, but I’ve got more important issues to waste thought on. Like, how am I not going to get chewed out by my mom when I get home?

Besides there’s a bigger problem (even bigger than my menopausal mom, or the fact that my biology teacher wears pink) I need to focus on. I’ve been having nightmares. I know that doesn’t seem like a big deal, but lucky for me, it is. The side effects from them are. I’m not going to go any further than that.

Yes! Finally the lunch bell rings. I jump up to leave.

“Katie, can I have a word with you?” I look over to see Mr. Brockson, my math teacher, leaning over his desk with some papers in his hand. “I need your parents to sign these.” He hands me back my recent quizzes that I, of course, failed. “I want them on my desk when class starts tomorrow.”  
I want to tell him I won’t be here tomorrow, on the account that my mom is going to kill me.


	2. Katie Vs Assyla (Round One)

I’m so thirsty, I think I'd sell my soul for something to drink right now...well maybe not my soul...maybe the kid standing next to me- No, wait, he's a ginger too, he doesn't have one either. That makes two of us. Just as well though. I should really lay off the liquids.

I grab a plate of their mutant looking…… I don’t even know what it is. I look over at the beverage stand with longing and walk past to our table. 

“Hey, what took you so long?” asks Allison.

“Hey, Al, sorry got held up by my math teacher.” My eyes fixate over onto her Mountain Dew sitting beside her tray un-opened. She notices and pulls it away. Then opens it and drinks in tauntingly in front of me, exaggerating ever gesture to tease me. What are friends for?

“What’s wrong, they run out or something?” Jaclyn asks poking the mysterious looking cafeteria food with her plastic fork.

“Yeah.” I try to say all casually as if it was no big deal.

“Well, it looks like they re-stocked.” She says as she points over to the beverage stand at the pyramid of Mountain Dew cans.

“Great, so you can go buy your own and stop starring at mine.” says Al as she joins in on poking the food on her tray. I swear one day, it’s going to fight back. 

“So, did you tell Jaclyn about your little locker surprise this morning?” I ask in an attempt to change the subject. I glance over in Al’s direction as she turns a slight pink color, keeping her head pointed down at her tray.

“Oh. Do tell.” Jaclyn says as she musters up the courage to take a small bite of whatever four legged animal decided to run into the middle of the road today. 

Al digs through her backpack and pulls out the heart-shaped box, with the sticky note attached to the bottom.

“Ooh la la. What have we here?” Jaclyn says as she closely examines the item in front of her.

“Read the note on the bottom.” I chime in. “It’s really…interesting.”

“Wow. This guy has obviously never been on a date before.” Jaclyn says as she finished reading the hand written note stuck onto it, and then hands it back it Al.

They start talking about a school trip coming up, while I sneak into my backpack, and grab my journal. 

I quickly lose interest in their conversation as I start to scribble down what has been going on these last few nights. 

“I really can’t keep it hidden much longer, unless I stop having these dreams. They're just so weird. In the dream I’m terrified for some reason, and so is everyone else. Then I wake up; but every time I have them, I dream a little bit more. I was almost to the point where I saw what everyone was running away from, and I remember I was looking at something, but then it’s just fuzzy and I wake up. I don’t mind the dreams so much, I actually find them interesting. The problem is that I’ve been-

“What are you writing in there?” asked Jaclyn as she tried to peek over my shoulder. I quickly shut the cover. I’d be mortified if she read what I was about to write. Even if she saw it, I know she wouldn’t tell anybody, she’d tell everybody. Because a person my age doing that, it just isn’t right. 

I turn around, finish the sentence and close the book. There, I got it out off my chest and out in the open. Sort of. 

The five minute bell rings. 

“Oh, how cute. Still can’t get anyone to listen to your problems I see.” A tall, slender, perfectly tan girl with brown hair and green eyes says. Oh look, it's "Most Likely to Become a Porn Star," I think while rolling my eyes.

“Buzz off, Assyla!” said Jaclyn, who was staring at her tray as if she wanted nothing more then to pick it up and spill it’s contents down the front of the person in front of her, which was probably true.

That is Alyssa, one of those preppy cheerleading types who think she’s better then everyone else. We call her by her first name backwards. We find it suites her much better that way.

“Bite me.” 

“Somebody ought to.” I mumble under my breath. I get up to leave, but realize a moment too late I forgot to zip my backpack back up. I stand there and watch, as does everybody else, as all of my stuff goes tumbling out onto the floor. Ignoring all the amused faces watching me, I grab my stuff, shove it back in, and sling it over my shoulder.

“Aren’t we graceful today?” she snorts. Hey! I was all proud of myself too, it’s already 12: pm and that’s the first thing I’ve spilled all day. I should get Brownie points for that or something.

“It beats being a-.” I yell, but Al cuts me off before I have a chance to finish.

“Will you two stop?” says Allison as she tugs on my arm to leave.

“Oh, nice you got yourself a body guard. Good choice, she defiantly is the biggest of all the girls.” Assyla snorts, a smirk forming across her lips, the same lips that my fist was just dying to smash into her skull. She asked for it. But I know better though. About violence never solving anything you ask? No, no, no. I know better then to hit her in the face.

Al lets go of my arm and steps back next to Jaclyn and I take that as all the go ahead I need. You just don't talk about a girl's weight like that...Especially not my friends.

I took my fist and thrust it into the side of her stomach. My defense wouldn’t be very good if she told on me with a broken nose. I leave no trace of ever having hit her. I learned that lesson the hard way once when I broke some boys’ nose, and my hand, in the 5th grade. Plus I got suspended for a week. My mom was furious, but I think my dad was proud.

“You’re… going ...to regret this.” She said, after a few choice four letter words, through gasps for air. All her clones came rushing up to help her. We walked away as the late bell was about to go off.

I couldn’t take the thirst anymore. I handed the lunch lady a dollar and bought a soda. I guzzled it down as fast as I could.  
“Thirsty?” Jaclyn said sarcastically. So much for no liquids. Well I made it last night, I should be fine. I hope.

After school was over I went to Mr. Brocksons’ class to see if I could get my cell phone back. After enduring his long lectures about not using it during class, I finally got it back. Hurray! 

I grabbed a snack from the schools ant infested vending machines, and sat down on a bench. I started looking through my backpack to grab my journal. Then after searching every pocket five times; I realize to my horror that I must have left it in the cafeteria when I spilled my backpack. The chance that it was still there was slim due to the fact that there were people in and out all the time. 

I ran in and started looking under all the tables and to my relief it was sitting on a table. Maybe someone just found it on the floor and set it on the table and didn’t read it. I give it a quick glance and stuff it in my backpack.

When I get home the first thing I do is head up to my room and get on the computer, and begin thinking of what I’m going to say to my mom when she arrives. I shudder at the thought. 

I go and dump the contents of my backpack onto my bed. The five identical F’s stare up at me and I glare right back. I throw them on my desk for later, and pull out my math book. My mom’s going to kill me.

Five minutes later, after I finish planning my funeral and guest list, I hear a ding sound coming from my computer that I instantly welcome. I’m a procrastinator, what can I say?

Chocolvr88: Hey

SocalKT178: Hey. What’s up, Al?

Chocolvr88: Thinking about that nature trip for Bio this weekend.

SocalKT178: Oh. I totally forgot about that.

Chocolvr88: Sounds fun, minus the biology part. At least we will have the nights to ourselves.

SocalKT178: Nights?

Chocolvr88: Yeah, it’s a weekend long trip at the lake to “study” the environment.

SocalKT178: Oh, right. I Forgot about that.

Chocolvr88: Oh. Did your mom tell you yet?

SocalKT178: Tell me what?

Chocolvr88: The weekend of our trip, my mom is also going away, except she is leaving a day before we do, and coming back a day after we do. So I’m staying at your house the day before and after the trip. Our mom’s already discussed the details on the phone today. So we will get a weekend together.

SocalKT178: Oh, wow. That’s cool.

No! No! No! No! No! No! No! And some more no’s! If I somehow survive my   
Menopausal mothers’ wrath, I could possibly die from embarrassment.

“Katie, I’m home!” my mom yells from downstairs. I grab my quizzes, head downstairs, and prepare for the worst.

“Oh, Hi mom.” I say trying to act casual. As casual as a person can be, knowing they could soon be very well carried off to the backyard in several pieces in large, black trash bags anyway.

“What’s wrong?” she asks. I must not be very good at this. I see the insides of some Hefty bags in my future.

“Oh, nothing is wrong, per say. I just have something I need you to sign for me.” My hand, shaking slightly, slides them over across the tile counter tops towards her. I clench my teeth, and wait for the nuclear bomb to be dropped. 

“Any second now, she’s probably just thinking of something to say to the police when Al notices I’m not in school anymore.” I tell myself as I peek through my tightly closed eyelids at her facial expression. And to my surprise, my GREAT surprise, did she not look as if about to kill, mutilate, or slaughter me in any form or matter. 

Good-bye Hefty bags!

“Oh, are these the math quizzes I heard about?” she asked calmly, putting them back down on the counter, and digging through the refrigerator.

“Yeah…How do you know about them?” I ask, blood beginning to come back into my face. But wait! 

What if she’s planning on lowering my guard, luring me into a false sense of security?

“Your math teacher called me earlier and told me to make sure that I get them from you.” She said, pulling out a bag of chicken from the freezer, and to my displeasure, a large knife.

“Oh, right.” I say, my eyes instantly following the knife that is firmly clutched in my mothers’ hand. She watches me with some amusement, as my eyes, never letting the eight inch blade out of my sight, follows her from one side of the room to the other.

“Umm…it’s for the chicken.” She says, motioning to the pieces simmering over the stove top. “How can you already be failing math? It’s not that far into the semester.”

“I don’t know it’s hard. I don’t get it.” I say, the dreaded topic rearing its ugly head into the kitchen.

“Then why don’t you just get someone to help you with it? Alyssa always had an A in it, I’m sure she would be more then happy to help you.” What is it with moms and not keeping up with the times?

“Mom, I haven’t been friends with Alyssa for three years. The only place she would help me is right over a cliff.”

“If you would just be nice for a change, I’m sure the two of you would catch up in a flash.” I don’t even answer that one. I just go into the kitchen and look for something that has chocolate in it.   
I settle for a small cup of chocolate chips, grab my quizzes and head back up to my room. I can’t believe I got off so easily! 

After dinner I spend the next couple of hours doing homework and talking on-line until I felt too tired to do anything but sleep. 

I go to the bathroom and get ready for bed. I start to wonder if I’m going to have any more nightmares. Maybe, if I’m lucky, that was the end of it. Then I’ll have nothing to worry about this weekend or when Alison comes over.

I crawl under the covers and hope for the best.  
...  
It’s the next morning; I say good-bye to my mom and head out the door. The closer I get to school the more I get chills running up and down my back. Every one of my muscles tensing up; I feel scared for some reason. I get closer with every foot step, continuing my rapid heartbeat. 

I start to become afraid, but I go forward anyway. The hairs on the back of my neck start to stick up, and I know that something’s seriously wrong. 

My feet take me to mine and Allison’s spot behind the school. My heart is beating faster and faster the closer I get. I’m at the turn and I stop. I wipe my clammy hands on my pants. What am I so afraid of? I’ll turn the corner and see Al there smiling when she sees me, then we will hang out like we always do. There’s nothing to be afraid of.

I turn the corner and see Al, but she’s not smiling, not even close. She’s not even alone.  
There beside her, a man, possibly middle aged with a hand gun squeezed tightly between his fingers. I follow his hand with my eyes to see where it’s going, straight at Al’s head. His finger rested on the trigger. My brain shuts down in hysterics; I stand there staring at the two of them. 

A bead of sweat forms in my hair and slowly makes its way down my face.

Al looks up, tears and streams of sweat sliding down her pale, white face. I find my voice and scream Al’s name. The man looks up at me, his eyes bore into mine. They seem so hollow, so lifeless. 

He turns his attention back to Allison, and asks her a question. A simple yes or no question. My brain does not calculate the question. The only thing I know is the desire of her to say no. A simple one syllable word will either save or take her life. Please say no, please say no.

She doesn’t hesitate with an answer.

“Yes.” She replies. 

I watch as if I have no choice. A short motion of his finger seems to take an eternity. As if watching it in slow motion, he pulls the trigger. My ears explode with the sound of the gun blast. 

My heart also explodes as I stand and watch my best friend fall to the ground. Eyes open gaping up at me. Her blood freely pouring from her skull onto the pavement below. A sick feeling rises up from my stomach as I watch her lying motionless on the ground. Dead. 

I feel dizzy as my feet give way, and I fall, but I don’t stop. I just keep falling. I hear a voice tell me “Go to the bathroom before bed.”

“Katie!” I hear a different voice calling me, but I can’t place it. I hear it again. “Katie!?” I finally distinguish it as a women’s voice. I feel a cold hand touch my forehead. Reality starts to slowly set in as I realize I’m safe in my bed. My nice, warm, wet bed. 

Not again! 

Even my dreams are making fun of me. 

I realize that my mother was trying to wake me up. 

I try to open my eyes but they burn, so I keep them shut. I move slightly to let her know I’m awake. I try to make a noise out of my mouth, but nothing comes out. My mouth is completely dried out and my throat burns.

“Katie, are you alright?” She seems truly concerned. I must look like crap; more so then I usually do in the morning. Then I realize it wasn’t the morning. I turn my head and squint up at my alarm clock. It reads 3 AM, and my bedroom light is on. I’m covered in sweat and still feel feeble and bewildered. 

I look up at her for an explanation, but instead of explaining why she’s in my room in the middle of the night, she gently places her hand on my forehead again. It feels so nice and cool on my burning face.

“You're hot.” She says. “Stay down; I’m going to go get the thermometer.”

I shift my legs to check to see if I did what I think I did. 

I did. 

This is completely distressing for someone my age.

My pajama bottoms were now uncomfortably wet and stuck to my legs. I reach into my personal drawer and pull out a towel and slide it under my covers. I was surprised to see that it instantly zapped all the energy out of me. I lay there and tried to catch my breath.

My mom walked in and took my temperature. 103.8 Fahrenheit. It never gets that high. Well at least if I get caught, I’ll have an excuse for this one. 

She goes back down stairs and a second later reappears at my bed with glass of water and a bottle of Advil. 

I struggle to sit up; as I make sure the blankets are securely around my waist. I instantly feel dizzy and take a sip of water. The cold rush of water felt so soothing on my dried out throat. I take some Advil and lay back down, fighting to stay awake. 

I manage to make a half understandable question come out of my mouth.

“What happened?” I ask, a burning feeling engulfing my throat.

“I was going to ask you the same thing. I heard you screaming, and when I came to see what was wrong, you were twisted and turning in your blankets. I tried to wake you, but you were yelling something that didn’t make any sense. Something about a bathroom.” I feel relief as I realize that wasn’t my mother telling me this, but if it wasn’t her, who told me to go to the bathroom before bed? Oh, well as long as my mom doesn’t know.

“I’ll stay home with you tomorrow, we need to watch-“

I didn’t catch the rest, I fell back asleep. At least I didn’t have any more nightmares.


	3. Chapter 3

When I woke up the next day I was shaking all over and felt like I had just got run over. I made an effort to lift my head up and see what time it was. 1pm.   
I don’t think my mom noticed my little accident, or any of the others from these past two weeks.

I look around to make sure she’s not around. I grab one of my blankets and keep it tightly around my waist and wobble over to the door, close and lock it.

Thankfully I’ve been keeping towels under my sheets, so my mattress was okay. I grab the dirty sheets and stuff them under my bed, with some of the others. This is getting embarrassing. No, embarrassing would be just once, but after the fifth or sixth time, it’s just sick and wrong.

I change into some sweat pants, throw the rest of the evidence with the others, grab the air freshener and spray around the room. I’ve almost used a whole bottle in two weeks. Believe me I never normally have this problem. It’s only been happening when I have these nightmares.

Thankfully no one has figured it out yet, although I’m sure my moms wondering why all of the sheets are disappearing.

Okay, so I lied…a little. I do have something to hide under my bed. About half the households bedding , that’s what.

As soon as I feel better I swear I’ll do some laundry. I better do some soon; I’m running out of places to stash the evidence. Great I say to myself as I open the door and crawl back into bed. My life as a 15 year old bed wetter.

As soon as my head hits the pillow I instantly fall back asleep.

When I awake again, my mom is in to check up on me. She says I’ve been asleep all day, and that it’s already 5PM.

She takes my temperature again, it’s down to 102.4 but it’s still high. She feels my skin and tells me I’m dehydrated. Hmm, I wonder why… I feel a little bit better and am able to sit up without getting as dizzy.

For the first time I think about what I dreamed the night before. It sends chills up my back. It was so real. I pictured Allison lying on the ground, and the look on her face, I couldn’t get her face out of my head.

I remember her being asked a question, but I can’t remember. I begin to feel tired again and I lay my head back down on the pillow.

The words suddenly made sense and the question fully formed in my head.

“Do you believe in God?” was the question and Allison said yes. I passed out again. I finally had a dreamless, peaceful, dry nights sleep.

I wake to my mother calling my name again. She’s leaning over me with a cold wet wash cloth, which she places on my throbbing face. My temperature has risen again to 104.8 Fahrenheit and I feel like I’m on fire.

“I called your dad; he is coming to take you to the hospital.” She says. Whoa, I must really look like crap. She refuses to talk to my dad; I’m always the one who has to talk to him.

All I know is that I feel like crap. I’m shaking hard, and my head is throbbing. I have no idea what in the world is going on, but I don’t really care right now. I just want to go back to sleep.

Next thing I know, my dad’s in the room. He takes one look at me and jumps back. Once he gets over at how bad I look, he comes over and asks how I’m doing. I really can’t talk; I can’t even lift my head off my pillow without the room starting to spin. I grunt to let him know that I’m alive.

“What’s her temperature?” He asks my mom.

“It was a high 104 an hour ago, let me take it again.” She says as she sticks the cold thermometer in my ear. 105.3

My mom starts to pace, while my dad waves his hand through his hair, or what’s left of it anyway.

“Can you get up?” my mom asks me. I fight to get my head off my pillow, but instantly let it fall back as everything spins. I shake my head.

My dad comes up and in one motion picks me and my sheets up. There glued to my body with sweat. Thankfully that’s all.

My head rolls over onto his shoulder as he carries me down the stairs and lays me back down in the back seat of his car; my mom watching nervously behind us. They both pile into the front seats.

I notice all the sweat on my dads’ shirt from where my head had been. He’s probably grossed out, and never plans to wear that shirt again.

It was weird seeing both of my parents together in the same car, let alone sitting next to each other. It was the quietest car ride I’ve ever been in.

By the time we got to the hospital I was completely passed out in the back seat. They must have carried me in there because the next thing I remember is them trying to sit me up in a chair. Being that I wasn’t all there, I instantly start falling forward out of the chair. My mom runs up and pushes me back in and holds me there. I don’t think my dad has any interest in touching me anymore, so he sits down and lets my mom do it. At this point I don’t thing I’ve ever felt worse then I do right now. I start to drift back to sleep as I listen to the clock tick.

I let my head rest on the chair next to me as I gaze over at the other people in the room. A nine year old boy holding an ice pack to his foot, probably from soccer practice or something, and a big boned lady which I could only assume was his soccer mom in the seat next to him yapping away on her cell phone. I didn’t really care to hear anymore of her conversation about what the girl at the office called her yesterday to whoever had the displeasure of being on the other end of the phone, so I rolled over and faced the other way, didn’t really like that either, so I finally settled for facing the receptionist before falling back asleep.

My mom leaves to go talk to the lady at the front desk. Sometime later, my name is called by one of the nurses. My dad picks me up again and follows the nurse into one of the rooms where he lays me down on the table. My mom comes in shortly after and sits in a chair.

The lady we followed starts digging through the drawers and pulls out a thermometer. She sticks it in my mouth and it digs in under my tongue.

I really hate those tongue ones. Not only do they poke you for a full thirty seconds of discomfort, Alex has also scarred me for life with those.

When I was about the age of seven or eight, I caught the flu that was going around. Alex, being the evil older brother he is, thought it would be funny to tease me while I was sick. After having rummaged through the drawer for the thermometer and sticking it in my mouth, he pleasantly walked in and started laughing. Me not knowing any better, threatened to hit him if he didn’t tell me what he thought was so funny. He then happily informed me that that I just stuck the rectal thermometer my mouth. Me being old enough to know what a rectal thermometer was, but young enough not to know any better started freaking out, until my mom came in and reassured me that it really was the tongue one. Ever since then I have despised anything that took my temperature that wasn’t inserted in the ear.

Oh I got him back though, for the next couple days, whenever he put his drink on the counter I would take a swig while he wasn’t looking. Yeah, he got the flu right along with me. Hehe, chemical warfare.

Thankful for when it finally beeps, she takes it out and looks at it, then writes something down on her clip board.

She leaves saying that the doctor will see me shortly. I know better then to believe her, it’s the emergency room, and nothing’s a short wait. Well for me it was, I fell asleep, and instantly saw the doctor come in and try to wake me up. Why can’t you people let me sleep?

He tells me I can sleep all I want when I get home, but for now he needs me awake.

“Can you sit up?” he asks. “I need to feel your glands.” I sit up with difficulty and wait for the spinning to stop. I cling tightly to the sheet wrapped around me for support. His hands feel like ice as he feels around my throat.

He reads the chart he brought in with him and informs my parents that I have a 105.4 fever and swollen lymph glands, whatever those are.

“It’s a viral infection, and there’s nothing we can really do for it. You just have to wait for it to pass as miserable as it might seem, although we do need to do something about the fever.”

I lie back down and let them talk not really caring about what’s going on until one word catches my ear. Shot.

This really isn’t my day, first this and now he wants to stick me with a needle. I hate needles!

“Okay, it’s just a little shot.” I tell myself, until he comes back with it, and I see the size of it. That is, was, and will ever be the biggest needle I ever have, or will ever see.

I give a quick glare toward my parents as he approaches me with an alcohol soaked cotton ball. If I wasn’t so sick, every nurse in a ten mile radius would be holding me down right now. I guess having a 105 fever takes the fight out of people, because nothing but that could get me to agree to them sticking THAT into my arm…at least I hope that’s where he’s planning on putting it.

“It’ll only hurt for a second.” He tells me.  
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m back in my bed, and my mom is bringing me some Advil. No, not for my fever, it’s for my ass.

Why are all doctors such liars?

My right buttcheek is painfully throbbing and is slightly swollen. Not to mention the purple and green 2 inch bruise all around the puncture wound and to top it all off, I didn’t even get a sucker. Last time I got a shot I got one, although I was also only seven. I guess you’re disqualified after you're ten or something.

At least my fever broke. I have never sweat so much in my life, must have lost at least five pounds; half of it being on my dad from having to carry me around.

He left a half hour ago claiming he was in desperate need of a shower. Oops...

Good news is I’m not contagious so Al is coming over to visit me. For the first time in two days, I’ve finally gotten out of bed.

After I took some more medicine I convinced my mom that I felt much better and that she doesn’t have to stay home with me.She’s thankfully out at the grocery store, which gives me a chance to do some laundry.

I went into my moms’ room, grabbed the hamper, and went through all the stuff under my bed, the stuff I didn’t tell you about.

Making sure Alex didn’t sneak in first, I check around the house and in his room. He’s not there. My mom probably told him I was sick, so he’s probably going to avoid me like the plague.I don’t mind this due to the fact that when we were little whenever I was sick, he would read to me out loud from the TV and microwave manuals to make me “feel better”. For this reason and this reason alone, I would never, ever pretend to be sick.

I grabbed the laundry basket and snuck down to the basement to wash them. Being that I have no clue on earth how to do this, it took me longer then I thought. I have learned this though. Don’t mix red pajamas with white sheets. White sheets no more. Oh well, I think they look better pink anyway.

I managed to get all the clothes back in my room, and the sheets back under my bed. My mom won’t be too happy when she realizes I turned a bunch of our sheets pink.

The door bell rings and there is Allison with homework for me… great.

“Hey, heard you were really sick?” she says, staying at least three feet away from me.

“Oh, yeah, I had a 105 fever.” I say, taking a step closer.

“Ouch. You’re okay now though right?” she takes a step closer to the door.

“Yeah I’m better, but I now passionately hate doctors. Look what he did to my ass! “ I say pretending to bend over while Allison probably begins wondering why she's even friends with me. "Oh well, least I’m not sick anymore. Let’s go up to my room.” I say, motioning with my arm up to the stairs.

“Oh, great. Germ land.” She says sarcastically.

“You’ll live. Don’t worry I washed all my bedding.”

“Sure you did.” I pulled one of the pink sheets out from under my bed to show her which quickly convinced her.

“Okay, I believe you. Only you could do something like that. Wait... Why did you do that?”

“What do you mean?” I ask as I watch her hesitantly walk in.

“Why would you do your own laundry? You never do it, AND after being sick.” She looks at me suspiciously. “What are you trying to cover up?”

“Nothing. I’m not hiding anything.” I get those chills. That kind where you're hiding something and just got caught kind.

“Sure. Did you spill some of that food are you’re always sneaking up?” She says sarcastically. I give her the look. The drop it look. “Oh. Right, that. I get really embarrassed when I get blood on my sheets too.”

Yes! She thinks it’s that, close call. I wait a few seconds for the color to come back to my face before answering.

“Yeah, I hate those surprises.” I say. “So did I miss anything at school?”

“Not really. Jamie says he missed you at math. He stopped by at our table at lunch for a couple minutes. Him and those other guys he always hangs out with, the one with the glasses and cow licked hair, and the really small one, the one they call ant.”

“Oh, Anthony. Yeah, they’re pretty weird." If you can believe it, even weirder than us. Jamie was one of my guy friends, well okay, my only guy friend. The only guy that isn’t afraid I’d kick him in the balls or something. We’ve been friends since 6th grade. I’ve secretly had a crush on him for half that time, but being that he is male, he is oblivious to this.

“Hey! Maybe one of them gave you the locker present.” I say pushing the power button on the computer with my toes.

“So are you excited about the weekend?” Al says, ignoring my question.

Excited? I was dreading it. Two nights in a cabin full of other people sleeping on bunk beds. If I had another nightmare while I was there… I couldn’t even think of what would happen, if that happened. Maybe I can just ask my Biology teacher tomorrow if I can be excused from going. I can always just say I’m still not feeling well.

“Can’t wait.” I mumble back as I plop down on my bed after checking my e-mail, which, of course, was pointless. “I had a scary dream about you the other night.”

“Oh, about what?”

“Well, I was at school, and I was going over to your locker. For some reason I was really scared. Well anyway, I go over to your locker to find you, but there was a guy standing next to you pointing a gun at your head. I have no idea if he worked at our school, was some random parent, or what. He asks you a question, but I couldn’t figure out it at first. You answer “yes” and he kills you. It seemed so real and it was so gory. Like something out of one of the twenty-five Halloween movies.”

“That’s creepy. Why do I have to be the one to die in your dreams? Why isn’t Jaclyn getting her brains blown out with me?”

“Because you’re the one who believes in God.”

“What?” she asks sitting up.

“The question he asked you was if you believe in God, and you said yes.” I say up to the ceiling.

“Oh, wow. What else happened?”

“After that is when I woke up sick. I felt like I was falling and I woke up with my mom looking at me like I was half- crazy. She said I was yelling in my sleep.”

“Yeah, you do talk a lot in your sleep.” I just wish that was the only thing I did in my sleep nowadays.

“The weird part is that isn’t the first time I’ve had that dream. I’ve had it three other times already, and every time I have it there’s a little bit more happening.”

“That’s freaky, so how’s about keeping me alive in your dreams?” she says, getting up and browsing through my overflowing book case.

“Ha, yeah I wish I could.” Really, she has no idea how much I wish I could.

“What happened last time you had the dream?” she asks while picking one of the many books off the floor and reading the back cover.

“Well the same thing except, I hadn’t gotten to you yet, the last thing I remember in the other one was I turned the corner and saw something. I couldn’t remember what I saw when I woke up. I’m guessing it was you that I saw.” I say, still having a staring contest with the ceiling.

“Interesting…” I look over to see what she’s talking about, me or the book, which happened to be quite a weird one. The book I mean, not me, although sometimes I too can be a weird one.

“Hey Al?”

“Yeah, what’s up?” she asks, looking up from my mini library of teen fiction.

“You wouldn’t really say yes would you?” There was a long pause. “Al?” I look up at her; she seems to be lost in thought. I lay back down and waited for an answer.

“Yeah, I would.” A million thoughts go through my head, and so do a million words to call her. I keep them to myself; she’s my best friend, if she wants to believe in it, then fine. I just wish she wouldn’t be willing to throw her life out for it. I settle for a simple explanation.

“Why would you say yes?” I ask, tearing my eyes away from the ceiling.

“Because I do believe in God.” She says, attempting to find somewhere to put the book in her hands away, but then just settles for the floor with everything else.

“Well yes, I know you do, but why are you willing to throw your life away for it? It’s just a religion.”

“I’m not religious. I believe in God, that He sent His son to die for me and that He rose on the third day. That’s it.” That's what Al said, but all I heard was "Wah Wah Wah Wah, Blah Blah Blah" Like one of those teachers off Charlie Brown. When Al starts getting preachy, ANYTHING is more interesting to me than listening to her.

“Sounds like a religion to me.” It was weird to see Allison serious about something. Usually the best way to describe her is A.D.H.D on steroids. She is the most energetic person I have ever met and probably will ever meet. To see her stand there and be serious for a change was starting to freak me out. “Let’s get something to eat, I’m starving.” I say In an attempt to change the subject.


	4. Chapter 4

It’s the next morning; I say good-bye to my mom and head out the door. The closer I get to school the more I get chills running up and down my back. I feel scared for some reason. I get closer with every foot step, butterflies fluttering around in my stomach. I start to get nervous. I go forward anyway. 

The hairs on the back of my neck start to stick up. Something’s seriously wrong. My feet take me to mine and Al’s spot behind the school. My heart is beating faster and faster the closer I get. I’m at the turn and I stop. I wipe my clammy hands on my pants. What am I so afraid of? I’ll turn the corner and see Al there smiling when she sees me, then we will hang out like we always do. 

There’s nothing to be afraid of.

I turn the corner and see Al, but she’s not smiling, not even close. She’s not even alone.  
There beside her, a man with a hand gun squeezed tightly between his fingers. I follow his hand with my eyes to see where it’s going, straight at Al’s head. His finger rested on the trigger. My brain shuts down; I stand there staring at the two of them. A bead of sweat forms in my hair and slowly makes its way down my face.

Al looks up, tears and streams of sweat sliding down her pale, white face. I find my voice and scream Als name. The man looks up at me, his eyes bore into mine. They seem so hollow, so lifeless. 

He turns his attention back to Allison, and asks her a question. It’s a simple yes or no question. 

“Do you believe in God?” he asks in a commanding voice. I stare at Allison. Please say no. Please.

“Yes. I do.” She responds, no fear present in her voice. My eyes lock in to what’s happening, unable to steer them away. There is an ear shattering sound of a gun blast, and I see Allison fall to the ground. The blood seeping from her head, forming a small black puddle. Her blank stare looking right at me, her green eyes digging straight into mine. A mixture of sweat and tears fall from my face. 

He looks up at me. He comes closer. My heart feels as if it will pop right out. He comes right into my face.

“So what is your answer?” he demands with the same forceful voice.

“No.” I say barley audible. 

“Good answer.” He says. “But now that you know it’s me, I can’t let you go.”

I start shaking as I try not to throw up. He raises his arm and I fall, down and down. I hear a voice again, “You should go to the bathroom before bed.”

“Katie.” I hear a female voice call out my name. “Katie.” I hear it again, not quite sure where it’s coming from. “Katie, wake up.” 

I realize that I’m back in my room, and my mom is trying to wake me up for school. I rub my eyes and find them wet. I figure I was crying. To my displeasure I realize my eyes aren’t the only things wet. 

I look up and see my mom waiting for me to wake up. 

I don’t understand, I did go to the bathroom before bed. Apparently that’s not the only time I went.

“I’m awake.” I grunt up at her. That doesn’t seem to convince her much so I sit up careful to keep the blankets tightly covering my lap. It seems to convince her a little more.

“Hurry up and get dressed, it’s already past seven.” 

Me being a prisoner to my own bed can’t do this until she leaves. I fake the appearance of getting up, which to my relief pleases her enough to leave, with of course the door wide open. 

I wrap my blanket around my waist and make a run for the door and close it. I better be able to get out of this trip or I’m screwed. 

I stash away the mess, do a quick sheet change, get dressed, and spray the area with air freshener. I run downstairs, grab a pop tart and head out the door. 

Okay, Allison is spending the night tonight. Absolutely no liquids! I don’t know what I’d do if she or Jaclyn found out. This is embarrassing enough with out any one knowing. To top it all off, how am I going to get away with it, during a weekend with all the girls in my class? Al is smart, and could probably think of something, but I don’t have the heart to tell her. I’ll just fake sick and I’ll have nothing to worry about.

When I got to school I go meet Al like always. Just Al. She takes one look at me, and gets on my case.

“What’s wrong?” she asks. “You look freaked about something.”

“I’m fine.” I lie as I try to lighten up. “Jeez you’re already packed?” I ask pointing at her duffel bag sitting up against the wall.

“Well yeah, my mom’s leaving this afternoon; I’m going to your place right after school.” Al says while she searches her locker for any more mystery gifts.

“Oh, right. I haven’t even started packing.” And if I can help it, I don’t plan on it either. 

“Once the biology part’s over with, we’ll be free to do whatever. That’ll be fun.” Normally I would be just as excited about it as she is, but giving the circumstances I’d like nothing better then to stay home. I go along with her and pretend to be excited.

“Well, I might not go; I’m still feeling kind of… bleh.” I say, faking a cough for emphasis. She gives me the yeah-I-don’t-believe-that–for-a-second-look. 

“Yeah, you weren’t even sick with a cough. All you had was a fever.” She says a slight hint of disappointment in her voice after finding no trace of secret gifts or letters.

“Well fine, then maybe I still feel a bit feverish.” I say as I look for a place to sit without squashing a million ants in the process.

“Oh please, it won’t be that bad, sure we may have to walk around all day looking at flies and weeds, but we will get nights to hang out and stuff. It won’t be so bad.” Yeah well, you’re not the one with the body that’s acting like a five year old.

Hey, maybe this is normal. Life is on this cycle nobody wants to admit. Once you hit 15 or 16 your body recycles and you start acting five until you hit mid twenties. That would explain why some teenagers are so immature. Then it happens again in your 40’s, but nobody will admit it, so they slap it with the label of “Mid Life Crisis.” And by the time it happens again, you’re just too old to care. 

Hey. I can dream.

Once first period ends I approach the Mr. Lenords’ desk.

“Can I help you with something, Katie?” he asks. 

“Yeah, actually there is. I’d like to be excused-“I begin to say, but am cut off mid-sentence.

“Katie, if it’s about the trip, I don’t want to hear about it, you’re going. You’re not the first person to come up and ask me to be excused from going.” He says with a bored voice.

I’m dead. I am so dead. 

On my way to World History I passed Assyla. She was looking abnormally happy for some reason, and when she saw me, she gave me this really creepy smile. It’s almost like she knows something… I’m being really paranoid now, I know.

The rest of the day went okay, I’m really behind with school work, but what else is new?  
The nice part was when I went to gym. It’s Friday, so we usually have to run the mile, but when she asked why I haven’t been at school, she excused me from running. Yes!

I got to sit on a bench for 45 minutes and watch all the sweaty, red faced kids go by as they all stare jealously at me. I noticed that she came nowhere near me, the entire time. Oh well, I took the extra time to catch up on homework and think. 

I know it was just a dream, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a dream that clearly before. Usually when I dream I will only remember tiny bits and pieces, but with these dreams I remember every tiny detail and emotion. Maybe I’m just making a big deal out of nothing; maybe this is just my bodies’ way of getting me to lay off all the caffeine.

I’m just about to go to my last period when I run into Assyla. She’s doing her usual routine about me, and I place my fist into her in the usual spot in her stomach where my dad showed me. 

Since my parents have divorced, my dad has nothing holding him back from showing me his favorite fighting moves on the count that my mom isn’t in the picture from keeping him from doing so. It really has come in handy though. Except right now for instance I forgot to look for passing teachers first and got busted mid punch. I got a detention. Thankfully that’s all. At least Assyla got one too, for provoking me in the first place. 

I kind of wish she didn’t though, now I have to spend an extra hour with her.

By the time my last period finished I was exhausted, but I figured I could sleep when I got to detention, like I usually do when I’m in detention. Which is about, every three days.

Assyla was already there, so I take the seat farthest away from her as I can. This is difficult being that she purposely chose the seat in the middle so she could harass me.  
At this point I really don’t care, besides there’s some other people in here I can hide behind. I rest my head on the desk for a few minutes. 

I jump up realizing that Al is waiting for me, and that I forgot to tell her that I’ll be in detention. I ran out before the person in charge (who happens to be my World History teacher) got a chance in telling me to sit back down. 

I figure she’s by her locker. The closer I get the more chills I get running up and down my back. I start to sweat, and my hands become wet and slippery. I feel my lunch start creeping back through my esophagus. I can’t decide if it’s from being scared, or from the cafeteria food. I figure it’s a little bit of both. 

My heart starts to race as I get closer. My worst fears coming alive as I turn the corner to find Al in the presence of HIM. He holds the gun at her head. I notice a tattoo of a snake on his left arm.  
I stand there staring at the two of them. A bead of sweat forms in my hair and slowly makes its way down my face.

Al looks up, tears and streams of sweat sliding down her pale, white face. I find my voice and scream Als name. The bald man looks up at me, his eyes bore into mine. He turns his attention back to Allison, and asks her a question. It’s a simple yes or no question. 

“Do you believe in God?” he asks in a commanding voice. I stare at Allison. Please say no. Please.

“Yes. I do.” She responds, no fear present in her voice. My eyes lock in to what’s happening, unable to steer them away. There is an ear shattering sound of a gun blast, and I see Allison fall to the ground. The blood seeping from her head, forming a small black puddle. Her blank stare looking right at me, her green eyes digging straight into mine. A mixture of sweat and tears fall from my face. 

He looks up at me. He comes closer. My heart feels as if it will pop right out. He comes right into my face.

“So what is your answer?” he demands with the same forceful voice.

“No.” I squeak.

“Good answer.” He says. “But now that you know who I am, I can’t let you go.”

I start shaking as I try not to throw up. I try to think of what my dad told me about what to do if someone comes up, but I can’t remember. All I see is a gun coming toward me, its owners arm lifting, and then darkness but the last thing I remember seeing was Alyssa standing there, but for once, after seeing me get hurt, she wasn’t smiling. 

I’m falling. I continue to fall, I feel myself hit something hard. Something cold.

“Katie! Katie?” I hear a voice yell.

“I’m sorry!” I scream at the top of my lungs. “I should have listened to Allison. Give me another chance! I’ll make things right I promise!”

“Katie?” It yells again. A male voice. A person! I feel a hand touch me and I jolt awake, shaking harder then I ever have. A dream! I can’t believe it! It was only a dream! A second chance! I have never been so grateful in my life. Life! I’m still alive!

I open my eyes, I’m in a classroom? What am I doing in a classroom? Detention. I’m still in detention! I’ve never felt so happy to be in detention. 

I look up and see HIM. The guy from my nightmares. And he’s touching me. I scream at the top of my lungs and kick, but he’s pinning me down. I fight to get free and call him every possible thing that comes to mind. I end up getting an arm free and sending my fist into his face. He lets go and steps back and clutches his face. Someone else steps up and pins me down.

I yell at the first guy with all my might. “How could you kill her?! How could you kill Allison?! What did she ever do?!”

“Katie!” someone calls. I look over and face the person who was holding me down. I recognize him from World History; he sits three chairs away from me. “It’s okay.” He continues, trying desperately to calm me down. “It was just a dream.”

I look around and realize I’m on the floor. Everyone is gathered around me. Scared looks on their faces, they probably think I was having a seizure. 

I feel to dizzy to get up, so I squint because my eyes burn to keep them open. There are tears all over my face, judging by the look on everyone’s face I must have been crying. I must have been crying hard. 

I look back over to the guy I thought to be the gunmen, and to my horror, realized he wasn’t. It was just one of the teachers who got stuck in charge of us. 

Uh-oh… I just punched my World History teacher.

Yeah, I have a feeling THAT’S going on my permanent record, not to mention the fact that he’s probably going to fail me on purpose now.

Mr. Stinkly, who I just punched in the nose, is on the phone with someone. He’s talking about me.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with her! One minute she was sitting there and the next she was rolling on the floor crying and screaming nonsense!” He sounds angry and scared at the same time. I want to tell him that I’m okay, but I don’t even know myself if that’s true or not. 

I guess I should probably apologize first.

He continues to yell at the person at the other end of the phone. “I don’t know how to do that! I’m a history teacher not a paramedic! Just get the school nurse over here now!” He slams the phone down and takes a deep breath. Both of his hands are over his face. “I’m never volunteering for detention again.” He mutters to himself. 

Yeah, I don’t blame him. Deranged, psychotic, flailing girls aren’t usually in the job description.   
I try to control my breathing, and not sound so much like I’m suffocating, for their sake more so than my own. It’s too late though; I’ve freaked them all out. Beyond freaked is more like it. Nobody says a word, they just stare.

I feel so hot and sticky, so… wet. 

The blood rushes out of my face, I slowly shift my legs. Wet. 

I slowly move my head, ignoring the throbbing, and look down. Thank God! I was wearing my thick black jeans. The ones my mother dissaproves of so much. No one can see my little accident as long as my jacket keeps me covered. I pull my jacket down some more, just in case. 

“Katie, good you’re awake.” says Mr. Stinkly, but everyone refers to him as Mr. Stinky because he has really bad breath. “The school nurse is on her way.” Mr. Stinky announces. 

Good, maybe she can check out your nose.

“I’m okay now.” I say as I try to get up. Things begin to feel dizzy and he pushes me back down.

“She says I need to keep you lying down until she gets here.” I don’t argue with him, one of the reasons being that I don’t want him to talk. Seriously man, have a Tic Tac or something, have a whole pack of Tic Tacs. Instead, I just nod and lay my head back down. 

“Anything I can do for you?” Mr. Stinky asks. Yeah, there is! Stop talking! I look around and everyone is still looking at me.

“Can you get rid of the kids?” I ask getting annoyed with everyone staring at me like I was some psychopath. Although, if I was acting like I was in that dream, they probably have every right to think so.

“Hey, all of you! Out!” he tells them. 

They all eventually leave, moaning and complaining. I’m probably the most interesting thing they’ve ever seen here. It’s not everyday some girl goes mental in detention and socks the person in charge in the face.

“Hey Mr. Stinkly, have you seen Katie anywhere, she was supposed to meet me after school and she never- Katie?”

I look up and see Al. I was wondering if she was looking for me. “Why are you on the floor, are you okay?” she asks coming over.

“Allison, would you mind visiting Katie some other time, now isn’t a good time.” says Mr. Stinky.

“No, its okay, she can stay.” I say, somewhat relieved she’s here. It was getting kind of awkward just the two of us. That and he creeps me out, I thought for sure he was the guy from my nightmare; he just has this…resemblance. But the guy in my nightmare was balder than my dad and he had a tattoo on his left arm.

Mr. Stinky has a full head of brown hair, and doesn’t exactly seem like the tattoo type. I don’t think they hire teachers with tattoos here anyway.

“What happened?” she asks looking down at my blood shot eyes. 

“I don’t know, I remember sitting at my desk, then all of a sudden I’m lying on the floor, in front of six people.”

“Lying doesn’t do justice, screaming and rolling around would more likely cover It.” says Mr. Stinky, grimacing as he tries to touch his nose. Rub in the guilt why don’t you. 

“What happened to your nose?” Al asks, noticing his scrunched face of pain.

“Your friend here throws quite the punch.” He says, making a poor attempt at hiding the bitterness in his voice. Al shoots me a dirty look.

“You punched him?” Al asks looking at me with bewilderment. One of the kids who were listening outside poked his head in.

“Punched. Ha. We had to hold her down from ripping him apart.” He laughs.

“Leave. Now!” Mr. Stinky says in a bored voice.

“What was I saying?” I ask out of curiosity, and to change the subject before Al rips ME apart. 

“Well first, you started fidgeting in your chair. Then that’s when you started screaming. We came over to see what was wrong, and you started crying and begging us not to kill Allison.” Al shoots me another look; I guess I’m going to have to explain later. 

“Around this time you just tipped right out of your chair and started flailing around on the floor. We kept calling your name, but you kept on twitching and screaming. Then when we tried to wake you up you screamed something about a second chance, and that you should have listened to Allison about something.” He says, in the same bored voice, continuing touching his nose. 

I have to turn my head and roll my eyes. I didn’t even hit him that hard, I was only able to get my left arm free, and I’m right handed. It’s not even close to bleeding.

“Wow, I knew you talked in your sleep, but this?” said Allison with a face full of concern, but also with “You’ve-got-a-lot-of-explaining-to-do.”

The nurse and principal come rushing in with a stretcher. 

Oh great. So much for not causing a scene, but I guess it’s a little too late for that.

I try to tell them that I feel better now, but they don’t listen. They talk to Mr. Stinky for a minute about what happened. The principal strokes his beard for a minute, and then tells the nurse to take me to her office for an examination. 

Mr. Stinky and the nurse put me the stretcher, and walk me over to the nurse’s station.

When I am evacuated from the room, I am met with a round of applause from the people waiting outside. I guess punching a history teacher is considered cool. The principal shuts them up pretty fast though, by offering them some more detentions. 

Darn.

Attracting all the eyes of people walking in that area I close my eyes and pretend to be dead. Al walks along the side of us, giving the eye to whoever comes in for a closer look. 

They set me down atop the bed and the nurse shoos out Al and Mr. Stinky.

“Hey, thanks for your help, Mr. Stinky. I’m really sorry about your nose, I didn’t mean to punch you, and I thought you were someone else.” I say, not realizing at first that I said that out loud.  
He raises his eyebrows at me, mutters something about how he’s late to meet his brother, turns around then leaves after accepting a bag of ice from the nurse for his nose. The nurse is trying to hold back her laughter and Al is full blown laughing. 

Smooth. 

She shoos Al out, who is pretty much tearing up at this point from laughing.

“So, would you like to tell me what’s really going on?” she asks me, chomping on some mint smelling gum.

“What do you mean?” I ask, totally not expecting this.

“What really happened earlier?” she asks again. I wish she’d stop staring at me, she’s making me nervous.

“I had a nightmare, no big deal.” I say, totally lying. She grabs a chair and sits down next to me.

“Do you know what R.E.M. sleep is?” she asked me.

“No.”

“It’s what it’s called when the mind is dreaming. I take it that dream you were having wasn’t your average dream.” I nod, wondering how she knows this, well if the whole flailing around hasn’t already given that away. I haven’t exactly seen anyone else collapse during class yet.

“How did you know, minus the whole flailing around on the floor part?” I ask. 

“It takes the body an hour of un-interrupted sleep to start the dream cycle, ‘Mr. Stinky’ as you put it, said you only nodded off for a minute or two until you started acting weird. How many times have you had these nightmares?”

“Five or six times at least.” I say, staring at the wall behind her.

“Are they all the same?”

“Kind of, it started off as walking to school with a weird sensation in my stomach, then kept progressing the more nightmares I had.” 

“Are they scary?”

“Yes. Somebody Kills Allison and then kills me.” She seems to be thinking, so I let her and just sit there awkwardly until she snaps out of it and asks me another question.

“Do you know the person who does this to you?”

“No, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him before. I thought it was Mr. Stinkly, so that’s kind of the whole thing with me punching him. I guess I was a little disoriented when I woke up.” She nods sympathetically and continues with her interrogation. 

Yes! Who knows? I might actually not get in trouble for this! And I can say I slugged a teacher, among the many other people I can say I’ve hit! Sweet! 

“Where does this happen?”

“Here.” This seems to startle her. “I was going to go meet Allison at out usual hang out spot, but when I get there, he is with her.”

“Do you think he is a student here?”

“No, he’s a bit older, more like in his early 40’s, late 30’s, but don’t take my word for it, I’m really bad with ages.”

“Does he have anything against you or Allison?”

“I don’t know, He was after Allison because she believed in God, and he killed me because I saw him do it.”

“Do you think Allison is his only intended target?”

“I’m not sure. He didn’t say anything about killing anyone before, or if he had any more targets.” I say, fiddling around with my jacket.

“Isn’t Allison the president of the Bible club here?”

“Yeah, something like that. Do you think it was like a hate crime or something?”

“Maybe.”

“Well it doesn’t really matter.” I say “It was just a dream after all.”

“Do you really believe that, Katie?” I pause for a moment and think. I really thought I was dead; I was shocked when I woke up on the classroom floor.

“I guess not.” I admit, but what else could it be?

“Anything else been happening because of them?” I debate telling her, but who wants to admit something like this? I instinctively pull down my jacket, which she notices. She raises an eyebrow at me, and I look away.

“Would you mind taking off your jacket for me?” she asks. The blood rushes from my face, leaving it pale white, well, more paler than usual, if that’s possible.

“No thanks, it’s kind of cold in here; I’d rather keep it on.” I say, continuing my examination of the floor. This jacket is the only thing from keeping her from seeing the “other thing that’s been happening.” I rather not go there.

“I can turn on the heater for you.” She says, pressing the matter further. Much further from my comfort zone.

“It’s alright; I’d be more comfortable with it on anyway.” I say as I begin counting the tiles on the floor.

“You know if there’s something you want to ask me, I won’t tell anyone, it will stay between us. No matter how embarrassing it might seem.”

“I don’t really have any questions.” I say. I’m such a liar, of course I want to know why this is happening, and I’ve even been looking on-line. But I just can’t seem to find anything.

She seems disappointed in me. Oh well.

“Then why won’t you take your jacket off? Are you trying to hide something?” Of course I’m hiding something, when am I not hiding something? 

I know she knows, how, I have no idea, but my guts telling me it’s not a secret anymore. I look down to make sure my jackets still covering, which it is. Then how does she know? Maybe they all noticed when I was flailing around, maybe it wasn’t covered then, and he told her. I fidget uncomfortably at the thought of a group of juvenile delinquents knowing something like that. 

The embarrassment of it starts to take hold of me as a tears start to form in my eyes. I slowly sit up and rest my hand on the zipper.

What am I doing? Someone, please stop me! I look up at her one more time.

“Everything will stay between us.” She says reassuring me. The more I pull at the zipper the more tears come out. 

Seriously! Now would be a good time!

I take a deep breath and just do it, revealing the wetness in my jeans. She gets up, sits down next to me, and pulls me into a hug. I officially loose it then, and just let myself cry in her arms. 

Yeah, pathetic huh? Even for me.

After a few minutes, I try to pull myself back together. I mean, there has to be at least an ounce of dignity in me left over. I mean hey, I’ve got a reputation to protect. I send in a good percentage of work for her, all those bloody noses and black eyes don’t heal themselves.

I hate to know what she’s thinking right now. The weird girl who pees her pants and cries in random peoples arms is the girl who beats everyone up? You’re joking, right?

I wipe my eyes on my sleeve, and zip my jacket back up.

“C’mon, I’ve got some dry clothes in the back you can change into.” She walks into a closet type room, and I silently follow. In a white plastic bucket was a large assortment of different clothes. I figure this must be the lost and found. She says I can pick out whatever I want, that they’ve been here forever and to please get rid of some of it for her. But that there was nothing for me in the line of under wear but a pair of guys boxers. She promises there new, so I take them. Anything’s better than this. 

I find a pair of jeans around my size and a nice sweater I couldn’t resist. I quickly change and put my old clothes in a bag and stuff them in my backpack. I come back out, and take a seat back on the bed. She comes back over and sits next to me on the bed. She pulls me into another hug, and tells me it’ll be okay.

“Does it only happen when you have those dreams?” she asks. I nod my head, not really wanting to speak. For some reason I just want to stay there, with her arms wrapped around me. It feels…safe. I finally figure I better ask her.

“What am I going to do, I don’t have any control when I have these dreams, and I’m starting to have them during the day now. I also have to go on a camping trip tomorrow with the tenth grade class for the weekend. My Biology teacher won’t let me out of going. If I have a nightmare while I’m there.” I don’t even imagine what I’d do or what could happen. But she seems to get the picture.

“I know about the trip, and I’m going there as well, nursing duties call I suppose, but you’d think they’d live for two days without me.” She sighs.” Katie, if you ever need to get away from whatever happens, or if you just want to get away, come see me. Same with school, if another episode happens, I’m here for you.” She looks at me, her eyes full of kindness before getting up and reaching in one of the cupboards for something before coming back and handing it to me. My eyes grow wide and I start crying again.

"You don't have too, but it will help hide it."

"I ...am...not...wearing a diaper!" What is she trying to do, throw salt in the wound? Kick me when I'm down?

Maybe this wasn’t such a bad thing, now I have someone to open up to. But let’s just stick to one person. That’s humiliating enough for about… a lifetime perhaps? I'm not adding to it, so I get up and leave, making sure to leave the peace offering behind. 

“Thanks, but no thanks” I say. She gives me one more hug, and I leave to find an impatient Allison waiting for me.

“Do you have any idea how long I’ve been out here? Jeez, what did she do to you in there, give you a C.A.T. scan?”

“No, we just talked.” I say, feeling myself begin to space out.

“What meaningful conversation could you possibly have with the school nurse?” she asks, rolling her eyes.

“Speaking of talking, I really need to talk to you when we get back home.”

“About what?”

“Your favorite subject.” I say as a hint of a smile escaping my lips.


	5. Chapter 5

“What happened to your pants? You’re wearing different ones.” Allison asks, pointing down to the faded blue pair.

“Oh, I guess I rolled around in something sticky on the floor, there was a mysterious green colored substance down my leg.”

She raises her eyebrows at me, but doesn’t pursue it. Why does everyone keep giving me that look? Am I that bad of a liar? I’m sure I could’ve come up with something better, but I couldn’t think of anything good that fast. Why can’t she be as oblivious as Jaclyn? That would definitely help me out a lot.

When we get back to my house I grab some popcorn and shuffle Al into my room. I close the door and drop down on the floor with Al.

“So what’s up, what do you want to talk about?” she asks. Just my luck, when I want her to be oblivious, she knows something’s up, but when I want her to know, she pulls a Jaclyn. 

I take a deep breath and try to remember the awful feeling of my dream, the large amounts of fear, guilt, shame, and the overwhelming gratefulness when I woke up. I thought for sure I had died. It wasn’t one of those dreams were subconsciously you know your asleep and dreaming. It was so much more than that. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such strong emotions in a dream before. I sit there for a moment and try to concentrate on all those emotions that are driving me do things right this time. I realize I must be one of the luckiest people in the world. Not everyone gets a second chance to re-do life. 

“I want to talk about God.” I say. Allison immediately sits up straight; I   
can tell she’s been waiting for this moment for a while. 

“What do you want to know?” she asks dead serious. It’s almost scary.

“Everything.” I say “everything you’ve been trying to tell me for the last three years.” She seems lost in thought for a moment; I can tell she’s trying to find the best things to tell me.

“Why the sudden change of heart?” 

“I had a dream that really freaked me out, a continuation of the ones I’ve been having, except this one was…different.” I continued to tell her about all the dreams I’ve been having and all the emotions I’d experienced in them. I told her everything, except the whole leakage problem. 

I sit there in silence, waiting for her to say something, anything. It takes her a moment to leave her thoughts and come back down to earth. She finally snaps back.

“Wow, those are some freaky dreams.”

“Yeah.” 

“I think there’s a purpose to them though. I think God is trying to get your attention.”

“Well He did a swell job of it.” 

She began to tell me things, things I already knew but never fully understood. She told me things like how God sent His son to die for me and everyone, and how He would have done it anyway, even if I was the only person. She told me that He knows everything I’ve ever done, but still loves me no matter what. For the first time, these things started to sink in. That He understands how I feel, how embarrassed and scared I feel. The little insecurities in the back of my mind, He knows them all. 

I’d always known these things, but I never truly believed them. I knew all the stories from being forced to go to church and whatnot when I was little. It just never really sunk in. I began to believe them, but was I ready? I’ve tried for years to convince people that I didn’t need help, that I was fine on my own. Was I ready to throw that all away and admit that I needed help? 

“Are you okay?” Al asks.

“I think so.” My mind is spinning with so many questions.

“Do you want to pray?” She’s looking straight at me, he green eyes staring straight into mine. I look away; I’m not sure what to do at this point. I know in my heart everything Al has told me is right, it’s not that I don’t believe, I’m just sort of afraid. I’m too ashamed of myself to do it; I’m too scared to face God. 

“I don’t know if I’m ready yet.” I say.

“It’s your choice; I just don’t want you to make the wrong one.” I realize at this point, she really is looking out for me. I always just thought she wanted me to think she was right. Now I know it isn’t like that. I have the best friend anyone ever could ask for. It’s always been about me, not her. 

She’s been trying to get me to see it for my own good. 

“Thank-You. I’ll be ready when the time comes.” I know I don’t have much time left, but this just doesn’t feel right for me yet.”

“Will you do me one favor though?” she asks.

“Anything.”

“When the time comes, will you come get me?” 

“I wouldn’t do it with anyone else.” For once, I wasn’t lying. She scoots over next to me and pulls me into a giant hug. 

I have no idea how long we stayed that way, and I didn’t care. I just wanted to stay wrapped in my best friends’ arms. All the things that have been happening just seemed to melt away. We stayed that way until my mom came up and knocked on the door. 

Thanks mom… 

We let go of each other and went to see what my mom wanted. She came up to help me pack. I dry my eyes on my sleeve and open the door to let her in. She comes in with an armful of my clothes and dumps them on the bed. 

“Jeez, mom, I’ll be gone for two days, not two weeks.” I say as I stare at the mound of about every article of clothing I own. 

“I just want you to be well prepared.” She says, pushing past me to my closet to pull out a traveling bag.

“Thanks, but I’ll take it from here.” I say as I go to shoo her out. “Now.” I say as I stare back at Al. “You’re scaring me. Will you please stop being all serious and whatnot and go back to being queen A.D.D?”

Al helps me pack as we talk some more until we are both exhausted and ready for bed. I climb into bed as Al makes a place for herself on the floor. 

I lie down and let my mind wander about all the things that she told me and about my embarrassing moment in detention. At least the school nurse was cool about it, for some reason anyway. I really, really hope no one else noticed. 

I wonder if it’s possible to die from embarrassment, I have a feeling I’m about to find out.  
^ - ^

It’s suddenly dark. I try to look around to see what has happened, but I can’t see anything. The room explodes with a bright light, which forces me to shield my eyes. There’s now fire all around the room illuminating it. I squint around trying to figure out what’s going on. I start to take in the room, it’s huge, at least a mile in each direction, or more. I couldn’t see where it ends. It almost looked like a giant…courtroom. It hit me fast and hard, like that piano that always falls on Donald Duck. I hear a voice call out my name. A strong, powerful, no- nonsense voice. The voice of God. I feel nothing but guilt and fear. I feel so transparent. 

The knowledge that He knows everything begins to overwhelm me. He proves this by showing me things of my life. Sins. Everything I have ever done, that makes me cringe thinking about, even the things I once felt proud of, makes me now feel ashamed. I can’t look up for the feeling of shame is to strong. I only deserve to look at the floor, but only because it is the lowest thing to look at.   
Tears are flowing freely from my eyes. I feel as even they are trying to get away from me. I have never felt so ashamed of myself; I even want to leave myself. I start to feel envious of my tears. 

“Katie.” He says, no compassion in his voice, I realize it’s too late for that, I had my chance and I blew it. He shows me all the times Allison has tried sharing Him with me, and all the times she has invited me to go to youth group with her. How every time I change the subject and make up some lame excuse that I already have plans. How could I have been so stupid? How could I not have seen the truth, it was right there in front of me this whole time, and I was too stubborn to see the truth. After all this time I always thought they were the stupid ones wasting their lives, when in reality they got the last laugh. I was being the one who wasted forever in return for a few short years. I just want to scream and yell out at my stupidity.

It’s too late. It’s over. I lost. I burn.

I’m burning! Everything is dark and dry! My eyes burn! I go to close them but I can’t! My eyelids are gone! I’m forced to stand there while dry, hot, dirty wind blows straight into my eyes.  
I look down at the rest of my body and realize my clothes are gone! 

“Well, at least no one else is here,” I tell myself as I look in every direction, but see nothing but dry, desolate, dessert in every direction as far as my eyes could see. 

I take a step, in an attempt to find someplace to get out of the heat, but am forced to stop as a wave of pain shoots through me. 

Boils the size of tennis balls have sprouted all over my skin and the bottoms of my feet. I cry out in pain, I need to get off my feet! I cry out in frustration and pain, there no way I can, I can’t sit down, the boils are everywhere. I’d only be sitting on them.

I stand still, praying by some miracle they’d go away, but they don’t. The pain worsening with every passing second that I remain standing.I see a figure walking slowly towards me, I desperately look around for a place to hide, but all that meets me is dry, open, desert.  
I look over to see who it is and see…my mom? 

She walks up to me, rage displayed across her face, and begins to inform me that she wishes she never had me. That her life would have been so much better without me, and that her and dad would still be married. That she was embarrassed of ever having me as a daughter. What? What’s going on?

I look back over at her, but she’s gone. My dad has taken her place. 

“Worthless child.” He says. “Alex was always so much better then you.” I start to cry, but the tears are…acid! They burn a hole down the side of my face. It immediately pops the sore on my face and they start to bleed. The pain is excruciating. 

The more pain I feel the more I want to cry, but the more I cry the more it hurts. I look up and see Al there.

“You were always such a horrible friend. You think you're right about everything, but you’re not. You deserve what you’re getting, I tried to tell you otherwise, but you’re too stupid to know any better. I don’t know why I even bothered with you. .” 

No! This can’t be right? Al wouldn’t be down here. As soon as I realize this a horrible creature takes her place. It comes closer, growling, and frothing at the mouth. The eyes are just black pits, its body wrinkly and gray. I look over and see more coming. They start climbing up me, ripping open the sores on my body. I start screaming at the top of my lungs. 

There are five or six on me as I try to fight them off, but they just keep coming. They're completely covering me, until I can’t breath, they climb over my eyes, and on to the top of my head, until you can’t even see me. I fall down, and continue to fall.

“Go to the bathroom before bed!”

“Katie?” I feel a hand touch me and instantly awaken to my room. Allison is standing over my bed wearing a concerned expression on her face. “Are you okay?” she asks. “You were screaming. Were you having another nightmare or something? You were really starting to freak me out.” 

I nod and look down at my boil free skin. I wipe the sweat that’s falling down the side of my face with my arm and sigh with relief. It was just a dream. A dream! Oh no! 

I move my legs slightly under the covers and silently gasp in horror. I’m stuck. My mom’s going to be in here to wake us up any minute. I can’t get up with Al in the room. 

“Yeah. I did.” I say trying to act normal. 

“Oh, well it’s time to get up, we’re leaving in like forty minutes or something." She says walking over to her stuff in the corner.

“I’ll get up in a minute.” I mumble, hoping she goes downstairs.

“Sure you will.” She says sarcastically as she grabs the end of my blanket and begins to pull it down. I quickly grab the other end up as fast as I can.

“Al, no, please don’t.” I beg as I pull the blanket back over my lap. She stares at me from my response and raises her eye brows at me.

“What is it that you don’t want me to see here?” she asks suspiciously, eyeing me curiously.

“Nothing. Please just don’t.” I plead. “Could you just give me a minute to get dressed?” 

“Hmm…You insist you’re not hiding anything, but you won’t take the blanket off, and you want me to leave…Okay…” she says and she turns her back and walks towards the door. I heave a sigh of relief, but she quickly turns back and before I can stop her, grabs the blanket off me and throws it to the floor.

I hang my head in shame and wait for her to notice. It doesn’t take long. 

“Oh…My…God!” she stammers. 

The room goes awkwardly quiet. I throw my hands over my lap, and slowly look up at her. She doesn’t seem disgusted, just surprised. Really surprised. 

“You wet the bed?” she says slowly, not believing it was true. “I can’t believe it! You wet the bed?” 

I don’t say anything, I can’t. There’s no excuse for this. It’s pretty obvious. My cheeks must be on fire. I jump out of bed and change without a word, as she stares silently at me. I feel her eyes on the back of my neck following me from place to place.I take the sheets and stuff them under the bed with the ones from previous nights. I wrestle with a clean sheet as I attempt to put it on the bed and not cry. She doesn’t seem to notice this; she’s to busy looking under the bed. 

“Al, please don’t.” I mange to whisper. She re-appears with a strange look on her face.

“There’s more!?” she asks in disbelief. 

I nod as tears start to fall. I don’t think this could get any more embarrassing.   
I sit on my bed as tears start to silently make their way down my face. I turn my head as I notice Al watching me.

“Don’t cry.” She says. I don’t listen to her. I hear my mom coming to get us up; I quickly wipe my eyes and pretend to be intently interested in what currently resides under my finger nail, making it a point to avoid Allison’s gaze at any cost.


	6. Chapter 6

It was definitely the most awkward car ride I’ve ever been in. We both sit in the back in silence the whole way there. My mom keeps asking us if we are okay.

“Fine.” I say a little too quickly.

When we get there, I go join the rest of the group. Jaclyn spies us and makes her way over past the rest of the half- dead looking kids.

“What’s wrong?” she asks at the sight of the two of us staring at the ground, trying to avoid eye contact with each other. I walk away and wait for it.  
Jaclyn screams and that’s the sign that Al told her what happened. I keep my eyes down as they start to re-fill with tears.

I bump into someone and look up. It’s the school nurse. I start to cry even harder.

“Katie, what’s wrong, what happened?” All I manage to get out is a couple high pitch squeaks. She takes my hand and guides me over to a secluded bench away from the group. “Are you okay?” she asks, chewing more mint flavored gum. Obviously not lady. I just shake my head and wait for myself to calm down.

“Allison spent the night last night. I had another nightmare, and she ripped the blankets off of me when I refused to get out of bed. She found out why I wouldn’t get up the hard way.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” She says as she gives me a big hug. Why is it that hugs is can make things seem so much better? “What did you dream about?” she asks. I told her about the weird things I had experienced during this dream. "Wouldn't it have been better if you took what I offered you?" She asks gently, but not in a I-told-you-so, way. I mumble something unintelligible as a response while looking down at the dirt, before swallowing my pride, or what's left of it, and ask for another.

"Sorry, hun, I don't have anything like that with me. Those were for the Special Education class." Great, so now I'm special ed.

Mr. Lenord, my Biology teacher, calls me back over while waving his arms in the air. Okay, I get it, no need to cause a scene.  
I thank the school nurse for all her help. She gives me one more hug before I go back and face my friends. She should really be the school shrink instead or something. I try to take deep breaths as I walk back over to the rest of the group.

Mr. Lenord gives the usual speech about what, and what not to do on this trip. The usual stuff, don’t do drugs, don’t drink, no personnel display of affection. We got the message, not like he didn’t explain it all a hundred times before in class. Not like anyones going to listen. I mean about the whole display of affection thing, not the whole drug thing.

“Does anyone need to go to the bathroom before we leave?” he asks. Jaclyn comes over and elbows me in the ribs.

“We know Katie sure doesn’t.” she says winking at me. Allison buries her face in her jacket to keep from laughing. I ignore her and pretend to be interested in what he has to say. He begins to read off the bed assignments. I end up getting Jaclyn as my bed mate. Allison elbows her in the ribs and says, “Your turn.”

We walk over to the cabins as I hear Jaclyn chanting “Please be bunk beds, please be bunk beds.” To mine and her relief they were.

“Don’t even think you’re getting the top bunk.” she informs me with a playful smile. We drop our stuff off on our bed, when Allison comes up to me.

“Want to go for a walk?” she asks. Not really, but I agree anyway. The first few minutes we spend in awkward silence as we walk around. Allison finally breaks the ice.

“So what’s been happening?” she asks as she looks ahead at the lake.

“What do you mean?” I ask, knowing perfectly well what she’s talking about.

“Well, what’s been making you do… that?” she says, still avoiding eye contact. “I mean you’ve never had that little problem before…right?” she asks, meeting my eyes.

“No. It just sort of started happening whenever I have nightmares.” I say as I turn my head and stare at the ground.

“Sorry about earlier. I was kind of in…shock.” I nod, still keeping my eyes on the ground.“Well you got to admit, it’s kind of funny, it’s not everyday you find out your best friend secretly wets the bed. I’ve been wondering why you’ve given up soda, and why there’s all those air fresheners in there.”  
I look over and see her laughing. I laugh for a second to, a nervous laugh at first, but then it turns real. We both end up laughing as hard as we can by the time we get back, tears flowing from both our eyes. I look ahead to see the school nurse, who gives me a smile.

“I swear, it’s just when I have nightmares. It doesn’t happen during a regular nights sleep.”

“You must be having a lot of nightmares, you have a pretty good collection going on under your bed.” she says.

“Oh please,” I say, “That’s not even counting all of the sheets I turned pink. And there’s also yesterday during detention."

“You’re joking, right?”

“Nope.”

Al leans up against a tree, attempting to catch her breath from laughing too hard, but it’s usually pretty easy to get her to do, considering she laughs at everything.

“I can’t believe you peed your pants during detention.” She laughs clutching her side. I try to act serious for a moment.

“What am I going to do about tonight and tomorrow? If I have a nightmare, it’s going to be next to impossible to hide it from everyone. There is like ten other girls in our cabin. Most people already know about my little episode yesterday. Especially because Assyla was in the same room with me. There probably waiting to see what kind of crazy things I do this time.”

Which reminds me, why was she in my nightmare last night? What does she have to do with any of this? Hopefully nothing.  
It’s a nightmare enough without her presence.

“So, what did you dream about this time?” she asks, crashing down near a patch of trees.

This is the first time I’ve had time to settle down and think about it. I sit down under a tree and let the wind blow my hair into my face. I replay the incidents in my mind making sure all of the information is correct, and proceed to tell her what happened.

“Wow.” She says. “And I thought your last dream was scary.”

“Yeah, but you want to hear the really weird part?”

“It gets weirder?” she asks in disbelief.

“I keep hearing a voice that tells me to go to the bathroom before going to bed.” Al falls over laughing.

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah. Even my nightmares are making fun of me.”

“Well, you should listen to it then.” She said trying to keep a straight face. “What’s with you and the nurse? Normally people our age don’t exchange hugs with their school nurse’s.”

“Oh. It’s because she found out about my little problem yesterday… She’s been cool about it.” I say, feeling my face turn a deep shade of red.  
My face has been this color a lot lately, if I blush anymore, I think it might permanently stay this way. I shall forever walk my days on earth looking like I fell asleep at the beach.

“How did she find out? Was it during your CAT scan?” Al asks poking me in the ribs.

“No. She was wondering why I kept pulling down on my jacket, so she made me take it off. It was one of my most embarrassing moments having to sit there and show her what I was trying to hide. She said she would keep it between us and I told her about the dreams I’ve been having. Well, I take that back, it WAS the most embarrassing moment, but I think this morning takes the lead.”

“Oh, were you crying because when you came back out your eyes were all red.”

“Oh, yeah. When she made me unzip my jacket, she came over and gave me a hug. That’s when I officially lost it.” I say as I stare back down to the ground.

“Oh. So that’s where you got those clothes. Yeah, the floors aren’t THAT gross.”

“Yeah, but I had to wear boxers for the rest of the day.”

“That’s where they came from? I saw them on your bathroom floor this morning. Your brother doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to wear boxers with Spider-Man on them. And why would your brother even be in your bathroom.”

“Nice.”

“What were you guys talking about this morning?” Al asks. Just to tease me of course.

“Hmm. What horrific thing could have possibly have happened this morning?” I say sarcastically

“Hmm….I wonder what would happen if I de-blanketed you tomorrow morning.” She says, sporting a devilish grin, which to me, resembled a gremlin.  
And no, I’m not talking about Gizmo.

“Don’t you even dare!” I glare at her. I just want to get through this…phase with as much dignity as I can muster. But by the way things are going; I don’t think I’m going to have very much of that by the time this trip ends.

“Relax, you know I wouldn’t do that to you,… in front of other people anyway. No guarantees about doing it front of Jaclyn for our own amusement. We can’t totally let you off the hook”

“You’re evil. You know that?” I say as I get up and punch her in the arm. “Just don’t tell any more people. I know you already told Jaclyn, she’s been teasing me all morning.” I mumble.

“Sorry.” She says massaging her arm “But we have to. If you think we’re just going to sit here, knowing our best friend wets the bed, you’re crazy. It’s been the best thing that’s happened since Jaclyn threw up on Bugs Bunny at Magic Mountain.”

“Will you two stop bringing that up. That was three years ago. It’s behind us, far, far behind us.” Jaclyn says as she walks up and joins us on the ground. “Let’s tease Katie instead.”

“Sorry. You came too late, it already happened.” I said. “So if that’s behind us…then this morning is behind us too…right?” I ask hopefully.

“Awe darn. Let’s start over then.” Jaclyn says, ignoring my pleas to put this behind us.

“Or we could change the subject!” I suggested hopefully. “As funny as my lack of self-control is, isn’t it getting old?” Al and Jaclyn exchange glances and sigh.

“Sorry ,Katie, but this is one of those moments that will forever go down in history.” Says Al as she starts examining a pinecone.

“I wish I was there.” Jaclyn sighs as she too started playing with the pinecones. She takes a glimpse at her hand, which is now sticky with pinesap, and throws it over her head. She then takes a can of soda out of her backpack and wipes her hand on its condensation.

“No you don’t.” says Al as she too ditches the pinecone and rubs its sticky sap on her pants. “Awkward…so very, very awkward. And don’t even get me started on the car ride up here.” I sigh and stare at Jaclyn’s soda, then back at my own Root Beer absent hands.

“Don’t give her one.” Jaclyn says to Al as she picks one up to hand to me. “I have to share a bed with her.”

“A bunk bed.” I quickly remind her. “The top bunk, which you have by the way, is the only thing you would have to worry about. We are sleeping on two separate mattresses. And it’s only 11:00 something in the morning. It’ll be long gone by the time we go to bed.”

“Yeah, but hey, why take any chances.” She says. I look up at Al, who sees this and takes a long slow drink of her own.

“Stop doing that!” I snap. She smiles back.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.” She says. I roll my eyes back at her. Do any of them really pay any attention to the effect this subject might be having on me? Of course not.

“Well I’m going to go in the cabin for a minute; I’ll see you guys later.” I say as I get up and make my way back over to cabin 32.

On the way, I pass by Mr. Stinky as he heads over to the make-shift cafeteria. I give him a wave, but he doesn’t return the favor.  
Seriously, get over it man, it was just a little bop in the nose. You’ll live.

“Finally, a minute to myself without getting made fun of.” I say to myself as I fall back onto a bed. Which, I got to say, wasn’t the greatest decision I could have made, considering these mattresses were as hard as rocks. At least I brought towels; it will make it a little more comfortable.  
I pull up my backpack off the floor and start digging around in it. “Oh no”! I moan as I re-search my bag for the fiftieth time.  
I forgot to bring towels.Not like they would keep anyone from seeing, but to simply save the mattress from a horrible, wet fate.  
Can rocks even stain?

I glance over and notice all the dead bugs in the windowsill, and it begins to gross me out. I turn the other way and stare at the rows of the empty, metal, black, bunk beds.

Maybe I should be concentrating more on the dreams themselves and less on their side affects, as heinous as they might be. Why am I even making such a big deal about this? They're just dreams after all, right? No big deal, but then why does my mind consider the possibility of them being so much more?  
Even if they were more than just dreams, that doesn’t explain why I’m wetting the bed. THAT I could sure do without. I mean I can’t find a logical purpose for it, if these dreams are trying to tell me something, I’m sure they would do a perfectly good job without the whole leakage problem.

What if they’re trying to warn me about something that’s going to happen? What good would that do? We’re both going to die.  
Wait! That’s it! I have to change it! I have to do something that will change the result. What though? I could always grab a teacher. Yeah, that should work. Instead of wasting time gawking at him, I’ll tell someone. Who should I grab? Who’s the closest? Mr. Stinky! He’s got some pretty good biceps for a History teacher. He isn’t that far away either. There, if it ever happens in real life, I’ll go get Mr. Stinky

There’s something that’s been bugging me about him though, even more so then his breath anyway. He just…resembles the guy from my nightmares so much. Well, okay, now not so much, but when I first saw him, I saw the guy who was going to do this. It was him. Maybe I’m just taking things out of hand; it was just a dream after all. I’ve seen Mr. Stinky around school before, my mind just somehow managed to throw him into all of this.  
Besides, it couldn’t be him anyway. The guy from my nightmare is as bald as Mr. Clean. And he’s supposed to have a tattoo of a snake down his left arm. Just because Mr. Stinky’s only employed part-time doesn’t mean they’d actually hire him with that tattoo. This school has a pretty strict dress code.  
Although, now that I think about it, I’ve never seen him wear anything but long sleeves. Maybe they hired him as long as he keeps it hidden.  
I have to get this off my mind, this is crazy. History teachers don’t do stuff like this, and history teachers don’t have tattoos. Well, teachers like Mr. Stinky anyway. He just doesn’t strike me as the tattoo type.

Okay, next time I run into him, I’ll just ask him to show me his arm. Okay, so I can’t at exactly be all…” Hey, show me your arm. I want to see if you have a tattoo.” I’ll think up an excuse to ask him later.Now, besides the weirdness of asking if he has a tattoo, I know I definitely can’t go up to him and ask if he wears a wig. A little on the offensive side. I could always pretend to be swatting at invisible bugs or something and “accidentally” hit him in the head. No, I think I’ve hit him enough for one lifetime. I guess I’ll just ask Al, that’s like, her favorite teacher. She’s always doing stuff for him. If there was any weird thing going on with Mr. Stinky, she’d know.


	7. Chapter 7

Okay, after walking around for six hours looking at dirt, and the things that grow out of it, you’d think we would all be exhausted.  
Of course not, now is the time that everyone has been waiting for, the time we get to ourselves. Two sweet fun filled, Biology free hours with my friends.  
I’m starving; I just hope the food here isn’t going to be anything like it is at school. I’m in luck! No surprise something or other, no mystery meat, just good old-fashioned hot dogs. You can’t possibly screw up hot dogs. They neither look nor taste hideous. Just pure left over cow compressed into a tiny stick like shape drenched in ketchup with a Root Beer.

Yep, that’s right, a Root Beer. I’m feeling pretty confident tonight. And after walking, which felt like forever, I had to drink something.  
Besides, I think I’ve finally gotten this whole thing sorted out. I’ll go to the bathroom before bed, and I’ll think about what I want to happen in the dream. I’ll be at school, get that uneasy feeling in my stomach, and go get Mr. Stinky. Who will in turn come rushing over to save his favorite student, Allison. He’ll see that dude with the gun and go mid evil on him until he drops it in defeat. Unless of course it IS Mr. Stinky with the gun.  
Hmm… this could be more difficult then I thought.

After spending all afternoon looking at plants and lake life, e.g. worms, beetles, and mosquitoes. Ones mind begins to wander. Well wandering won’t really cut it, more like running as far and fast as it can. Anything to get away from things like the scientific names of weeds.  
No joke, he stood there and talked for 20 minutes about a dandelion.

“Katie, come back to earth will you?” asked Al as she waved her hand in front of my face. Apparently, hot dogs aren’t all that interesting either.

“Smooth one, space case.” Jaclyn says sarcastically motioning her hand towards my side of the table. “Look what you just did.”  
I snap out my trance long enough to realize I knocked over my soda at some point and that there was now a stream leading from on the can, onto the table, onto my lap. And I was just thinking about how good this night has been so far. Proof that nothing lasts forever.

I run up and grab some paper towels, cringing at the thought of all the ants my pants are going to attract tonight. I come back and attempt to clean up the last remaining stream that hadn’t yet made it on to my clothing.

“It just doesn’t feel like home until you manage to spill something, thanks, Katie.” Says Jaclyn as she watches with amusement at my pathetic attempt to mop up, which was just making things worse. Go figure.

I glance over at Al, who is, of course, snickering at me. She looks up at me and laughs even harder. “It’s a sign.” She giggles.

“Huh?” I ask, not really paying attention.

“Yeah, lets just hope that’s the only river you're going to be making tonight.” Says Jaclyn. I glare at the both of them, trying to hide the embarrassment that dwelt within.

“Shut up. Someone might hear you.” I mumble. This of course, only causes them to raise their voices higher. I quickly flash them both my hands, which is tightly formed into a fist. This shuts them up. For now anyway.

I sit back down, at our now sticky table and glance down the rows of tables. My eyes happen to shift over to the staff table where the school nurse returns my gaze. And what do you know? She’s laughing at me. She apparently had the pleasure of witnessing my little soda spillage, but then again, who didn’t?  
I smile back to her and look back down at my tray.

“Seriously, what is going on between you and the nurse?” Jaclyn asks through a mouth full of hot dog.

“Why, what’s wrong?” I ask slightly offended. Jaclyn being well…Jaclyn, does not see this and continues on.

“Well nothing is wrong per say, it’s just weird is all. We all saw you this morning having a moment together. It was freaky, like something off of a Hallmark card.”

“What, we were just talking.”

“Really, because what I saw was you two sitting on a bench, with her arms wrapped around you and she was patting your back. While you had your head resting on her shoulder. Looked pretty Hallmarky to me.”

“So what? She’s nice.”

“Allison was text messaging me for like a half-hour trying to figure out what happened to you yesterday. You went in to her office, and never came out.”

“I was only in there for like ten minutes.” I say finishing off the last of dinner. I see a bunch of people get up and head over to the front; they must have put something out for dessert. Please be something with chocolate in it! What luck? I see someone walk by with a piece of chocolate cake. I instantly run up to the front to get some. I almost didn’t even care that it tasted like it had been sitting out all week.

Mr. Lenord gets up and announces that we have an hour to go get ready for bed until lights out. We get up to leave but are stopped by no other then Assyla and her clones.

“Nice performance in detention yesterday. It almost made it somewhat enjoyable for me, until you woke up that is.” She sneered as she gave me a smirk. “Everyone’s wondering what you’re going to be pulling on us tonight.”

We ignore them, which for me is surprising because normally she’d have a bloody nose by now. Guess I’m just too tired to care at the moment.  
We walk back over to our cabin and go over to out assigned bunk beds and start getting ready for bed. That’s when we notice something unusual; we were the only ones in here. I go peek out the screen door and notice all the girls in a circle around Alyssa talking in whispers. What was so weird was that most of these people weren’t in her little crowd. Me, Allison and Jaclyn were the only people not over there. I point this out to them and we all stand by the window and wonder who they were trashing in their little gossip circle. They soon disperse and we head back over to our beds, pretending not to have taken notice of their little circle.

You can hear people talking and giggling, but once they enter back into the cabin, all goes awkwardly quiet for some reason. Maybe it’s my imagination, but I could have sworn everyone was looking at me. Like they were waiting for me to do something crazy. Al leans over to me and whispers, “What was that all about?”

“No idea.” I whisper back, but I have an idea, and it’s probably right. They were talking about me.

I try to shake it off as I climb into bed, trying not to hit my head on the top bar. The blankets that were given to us were thin and itchy, doing a poor job at warming us up. I’m sure it was no help that the door was only a screen, which allowed the fresh cold air to present itself into our room. 

I stare, envious of the others who thought to bring a sleeping bag with them. The lights go out soon after and my thoughts drift back over to the dreams. I worry about it for only a minute as my body tells me it would rather sleep then think.  
^-^  
I throw my jacket back on as I make my way over to school. It’s extra cold this morning for some reason. The tiny hairs on the back of my neck stick straight up and I start to shake. I stick my hands in the pockets of my jacket to keep them warm. I don’t really feel all that cold, but I have goose bumps going all up and down my arms and legs. A nervous nauseated feeling rises up in my stomach, as I get closer to school. Something isn’t right. I instantly realize what’s going on. It’s happening.

I need to save Allison, I can’t waste anymore time. I run to the school as fast as I can. Instead of turning right, I turn left and sprint toward Mr. Stinky’s classroom. I barge in, not bothering to knock. I pause for a moment as I try to take in gasps of air.

“Are you alright?” says a middle aged women with brown curly hair. She’s looking up from the stacks of paper on her desk.”

“Where is Mr. Stinkly?!” I ask, trying not to raise my voice

“Oh, he already left.” She says, going back down to her paper work. “Is there anything I can do for you?” she asks not looking up at me. She doesn’t seem like the type to believe me. I don’t have much time. It’s a long shot, but here it goes.

“My friends in danger! I need you to call the police.” I say, trying to remain calm. This gets her to look up.

“Why? What happened?” she asks, her voice rising with concern.

“My friend! I think she’s in danger! There might be a guy around the school with her. He has a gun and he’s going to kill her.” I say, my voice rising with each word. She stares at me for a minute, a puzzled expression across her face.

“You think? There might?” she asks. “Did you hear someone talking about this? How do you know?”

“I dreamt it.” I say, realizing how stupid it sounded the moment it came out of my mouth. But I don’t have time to worry about it. I need help. She raises her eye brows at me, not sure whether or not to believe me.

“You…dreamt it?” she asks, sounding as if talking to a crazy person.

“Yes! Now come one! I need help!” I yell, motioning for her to follow me.

“Yes…you do.” She says slowly, her feet staying in place. “Maybe you should see the nurse.” She says moving around the desk to write a note.

“I’m not joking!” I yell in frustration. She doesn’t seem to believe me. I storm out and yell at myself for wasting time talking to her, and sprint toward the crime scene.I hear the ear-splitting blast of a gun that was fired close by.“I’m too late!” I cry out. I curse the curly haired lady with every word I can think of.

I turn around and see Alyssa coming this way to investigate the source of the noise. She walks past without looking twice; I see her jaw drop and her perfectly tanned face go paler than mine. A slight whimper escaping her mouth.

“Nice of you to join our little party.” Says the hollow voice I recognize as the shooters.

I hear another gun blast as I see Alyssa’s’ body drop to the ground. I start screaming as tears rush from my eyes. I hear footsteps coming this way. I’m frozen to the spot, unable to move. I see him look this way. My heart begins beating wildly.

“Oh, hello.” He says so innocently. He lifts up his arm, the arm with the gun in it. “Good-bye” I hear as I feel myself falling and I start to scream.

“Go to the bathroom before bed.” I hear as I continue to fall.

“Katie?” I faintly hear as I roll over and open my eyes.

There stands the whole group of tenth grade girls around my bed, excluding Al and Jaclyn, who are still asleep in their own.Alyssa stands at the foot of my bed. What’s going on?

“Having another nightmare are we, Katie?” she asks with a hint of excitement in her voice. I hear the word nightmare and freeze. Please don’t tell me I did what I think I did…again. I did. Oh crap.

“Well, were you?” she asks again. Not seeing where this is going, I nod. The girls start giggling amongst themselves. Is there something I’m not getting here? I, having no clue what’s going on ask

“What do you want?” She holds up some printed pages they have clearly been copied. She clears her throat for all to hear. Al and Jaclyn wake up and look to see what’s going on. She lifts the pages up to her face and begins reading out loud.

“I really can’t keep it hidden much longer, unless I stop having these dreams. There not exactly scary dreams, just weird. In my dream I’m terrified for some reason and I get chills running up and down my back. Then I wake up, but each time I’ve had them I dream a little bit more. I was almost to the point where I saw what was freaking me out so much. I remember looking at something, but it’s just fuzzy when I woke up.”

My face goes completely white as chills run up my back. I can’t believe it! She’s reading my journal! Al must have sensed this too; I see her hop off from her bed and come near mine. Jaclyn hangs her head from the top bunk to see what’s up. Alyssa gives me another evil looking smile and continues reading.

“I don’t mind the dreams so much, I actually find them quite interesting.” DON’T SAY IT! Please you have to have some form of a heart, please don’t say it! “The problem is I’ve been secretly wetting the bed because of it.”

I … CAN’T…BELIEVE…SHE…JUST…SAID…THAT!!!

“Awe.” Alyssa says in a fake sympathetic voice. “Is Katie wetting the bed?” I don’t say anything. I can’t. I’m in so much shock. She tosses the pages onto my bed.

“That IS what you wrote, isn’t it?” The girls start giggling loudly. “Well, if you’re not going to answer, we might as well have a look for ourselves.” She has to be joking. She wouldn’t do that, would she? She can’t possibly take this any further she had her laugh. She can’t be that mean. Could she? She gives a nod to the girls on my left and they each grab a piece of my blanket. I cling tightly to the piece that I have.

“Awe, what’s wrong Katie? You're not trying to hide something, now are you?” she said with a malicious grin. Why is she doing this to me? “Ready girls?” Before I could do anything to stop them, they grabbed the blanket and pulled it right off of me.

The room exploded with laughter seconds after. The only thing my brain could comprehend was the word run. I jumped out of bed and ran as fast as I could, making sure I plowed over some girls on the way.I didn’t bother changing, or fixing the sheets. I just ran.  
I don’t know how long I had been running for, or how far I’d gone. I wasn’t really keeping track. All I wanted to do was distance myself from them as much as possible. I eventually got tired from running and stopped to catch my breath.

That’s when the reality of it began to sink in and I began to cry harder then I ever have before. I looked like a mess. My eyes were all blood shot; my hair was everywhere, and worse. I was still in my wet pajamas from the night before.I needed some place to hide; somewhere no one would find me. Being that I’m on a lake, there weren’t too many places to choose from. I went to the only place available. A porta-potty. I must have been in their for at least an hour. I lost track. All I know is that I’m never coming out. At least my pants are drying.

Sure, it smells like poop, but it’s better then being out there, I guess. I’ve never hated anyone before, sure I’ve despised people, but never truly hated anyone. Up until now anyway.

It’s been at least an hour and I’m still crying. I need someone to talk to, but I don’t want to leave. For some reason the things Allison told me the other night start to unravel themselves in my mind. I try to push it out, I’m really not in the mood to feel any more worthless than I already feel, but for another strange reason it keeps jumping back in. I’m to emotionally exhausted to keep fighting it, so I let it come in. I thought it was going to make me feel even lower, but strangely it doesn’t. It almost made me feel…better.

Sure, I cherish the idea of someone loving me unconditionally like the next person, but it just seems too good to be true. There’s just something about it that’s drawing me to it though, something I can’t really explain.

“Katie!” I hear someone call my name. I sit up for a second and listen. Nothing. I must be hearing things; maybe the fumes are getting to me. They should have a warning on these porta-potties.

Warning: Poop, harmful to humans if inhaled. Enter at your own risk.

“Katie, where are you?”

Okay, that time I know I wasn’t hallucinating. It sounded like Al.

“Please come out!” yelled Jaclyn. About time they came and looked for me. I’ve only been sitting in a porta-potty for the last two hours getting high off poop fumes. Seriously, my brain cells could be at high risk right now. I peek out the air hole at the side and watch them come closer.  
Wait, I see three pairs of legs, there’s two pair in jeans- which are obviously Al and Jaclyn- but who’s the third? Defiantly not a student, they’re wearing stockings. I look down at my pajama bottoms, which are still noticeably wet. Oh great, I can’t go out there looking like this, although fresh air is sounding really tempting right now. I hear a knock at the door.

“Katie, are you in there? Open up, it's Allison.”

“I can’t,” I moan back.

“Please?”

“No!”

“By the way.” Jaclyn chimes in “We brought you some clothes.”

Okay, that catches my attention right away. I stick my hand out the door, hiding the rest of myself inside. I bring my hand back inside after each article of clothing is handed to me and quickly change.

“Now will you come out?” Al asks. I ponder it for a moment, but in the end, the need of fresh air convinces me to leave. I open the door and step out, the sudden brightness temporarily blinding me. I gladly inhale the cold, fresh air as it welcomes me to the outside world.

"Breathe much?" Jaclyn asks sarcastically as I start coughing and choking.

I finally manage to control my breathing long enough to spit out a “Not if you’ve been in a porta-potty for two hours.”

“God, stop being a baby, you were only gone for a half-hour. “

Note to self: get a watch.

Al elbows her in the ribs. I finally notice the other person standing next to me; it’s the school nurse. Al grabs my arm and leads me over to a picnic bench a few feet away, leaving Jaclyn and the school nurse by themselves. I laugh silently to my self as I hear Jaclyn trying to start an awkward conversation with her.  
“So…yeah…you’re a nurse.”

Me and Al sat down facing each other.

“Are you okay?” she asks.

“No, not really. I’ve just been humiliated in front of the entire tenth grade class.” I say looking down at my hands. She doesn’t say anything for a few minutes, but what do I know, it was probably only thirty seconds.

“I’m really sorry that happened.” She says her bright green eyes boring into me.

“It’s alright.” I lie, my voice squeaking, giving it away. “It could have been worse; they could have been armed with camera phones or something.”

“Well actually…”

I lay my head on the wooden bench trying not to even think about it. Could this day get any worse? How in the world could she do that to me, aside the fact that we’ve been mortal enemies since sixth grade, but still? I swear, she has no heart. How did she even get my journal long enough to read it, let alone PHOTO COPY IT!!!  
It’s my fault, really, how could I even write something like that down on paper? Did she sneak into my backpack when I wasn’t looking? The only time I ever take it from my backpack is to write in it, but I do have a habit of dropping it.

Wait! I spilled my backpack that day I punched her, I lost it and found it in the cafeteria. She must have spotted it, photocopied it, and then put it back to make me think no one found it. Oh, she’s good, but she’s not good enough. I will find a way to get her for this.

“Was that the only part of it she read, let alone, photo copied?” I ask.

“Well there was a little bit more, there was a part about…Jamie.” She sighed, not meeting my eyes.

No! Please not that part!

“It wasn’t…the day dream…was it?” I ask, secretly knowing what the answer is going to be. She doesn’t look back up; she continues to stare blankly at the ground.

“You’ve got to be joking! She can’t possibly humiliate me any more in one day.” I say as I clench my hands tightly to form fists. “She wasn’t going to um… tell him was she?” She nods her head.

“She went over to the guys’ cabin right now.” Just my luck, I’m so not writing in a journal anymore.

“She’s dead!” I yell as I pound my fist into the bench, which only made it start throbbing, plus I think I got a splinter.

“What are you possibly going to do?” Al says trying to calm me down.

“I don’t have to do anything; all I have to do is sit back and let something happen.” I say as I try to painfully rip the splinter out of the side of my hand.

“What are you talking about?” she asks noticing the gleam in my eyes. Usually I only get that look when I’m about to do something really stupid or dangerous, or sometimes both. Like say, punch someone twice as big as me, as I sometimes like to do. Did I mention that my extracurricular activity happens to be detention?She quickly notices this and tries to shake what I’m planning out of my head.

“It doesn’t matter.” I finally say, “It’s not real anyway.”

“Why, did something more happen in your dream?”

“Yeah. Instead of trying to find you, I went over to Mr. Stinky’s classroom to get his help, but some lady was in there instead. When I told her what was happening, she tried to send me to the nurses’ office. So I went over there myself but I was too late. Alyssa hears the gun and goes over to figure out what happened and runs into him. This part almost made it worthwhile, until he finds me anyway.”

“You wouldn’t really do that, would you?”

“Do what? I didn’t do anything.” I ask, somewhat puzzled.

“Exactly. You wouldn’t just let her die would you?”

“It’s not like I can do anything about it.” I say starting to get annoyed.

“What if you could do something? Would you?”

“No, not really.” I say as she jumps up on her feet.

“So you would just let her die?” she says, raising her voice.

“What don’t tell me you’re taking her side?” I say as I jump up too.

“Katie! You could have the power to save someone’s life and you’re not going to use it?

”No, and besides. IT’S NOT REAL!” I say unable to keep the anger out of my voice. I can’t believe it, after all Alyssa did to me today, she’s going to go and take her side.

“For all we know it could be! I think God’s trying to tell you something.”

“Enough with that crap! It’s not real! Get that through your little head. It’s just some stupid religion for people who aren’t loved enough so they have to go make up something that does!” I scream at her.

“You know that’s not true! You were freaked when you woke up in detention. You know it’s real. There is a God, and He loves you, if you would just see that-“

“Allison!” I scream at her “I don’t want anything to do with your ‘God’. I hate your God! In fact you can take your God and shove it right up your-“

“Katie!” Jaclyn whispered at me as she grabbed my arm. She shook her head at me. I knew then that I’d gone too far. Jaclyn bags on Allison all the time about what she believes, and if she even thinks I pushed it… I stare up at Alison…but it’s too late.   
I can see she’s upset. More upset then I’d ever seen her in a long time. I could see tears start to form in her eyes. Now I’d done it.

“Al I’m so-“I start to say, but then stop. I stand there watching as she takes off the other way.

“Nice one.” Jaclyn says sarcastically as she punches me in the arm. Jaclyn runs to go catch up to Allison, with the school nurse in close pursuit, leaving me standing there alone. At first I didn’t really care. I was pissed. She needed a dose of reality. Didn’t she…?

I walk back to the cabin by myself. Every one else was already out with the tour by the lake. I figured I’d join them in a minute, but first I must dispose of some evidence. I sprint back over to where I had been sleeping the night before, but to my surprise, find it already cleaned up. The mattress was already flipped over and the sheets crammed under it.

Al must have done this… She’s definitely the only one brave enough to. If someone else had my little problem, I definitely would not be the first to volunteer to clean it up. I lie down on my sheet-less mattress and sigh. She’s so sweet; I just wish she wasn’t so clueless.  
I mean, I have every right to be mad at her. She saw what Alyssa did to me, and she is still going to take her side. And it’s not like that would even happen. I wouldn’t even have a chance to let her die. The dreams aren’t real, they're just dreams. Even if they were something more, there is nothing I can do to save her. I’m either already dead, or about to die. Even if I weren’t hurt, I wouldn’t go over to help her. I’d help Allison.  
I can’t believe I’m even thinking about this. They’re dreams. That’s all they’ll ever be. It’s just my mind playing tricks on me.


	8. Chapter 8

I need to take my mind off this. I get out of bed and walk over to join the tour group. Yeah, I know. I ‘m desperate. I was in no hurry to face anyone there, my friends, or anyone else for that matter.I arrived ten minutes later as the Biology teacher was explaining the structure of an insect. I stand quietly in the back, hoping no one will see me. But of course they do.One head turns around, whispers to the person next to them, then all the heads spin. Giggles erupt from the crowd at the sight of me. I look down trying to hide the fact that I was blushing.

“People, can I have your attention once again? Just because Miss. Devo here was late is no excuse for laughter, it’s not that big a deal.” Mr. Lenord said.

“She’s only late because she couldn’t stand the thought of showing her face again” one girl said which only caused more laughter.If Mr. Lenord wasn’t here, I know where my fist would be right now.

“What may I ask is so funny here?” asked Mr. Lenord.

“Nothing!” I shout out before anyone has a chance to say anything. More laughter.

“Well obviously something is funny here. Katie, since you seem to be the cause of all this, would you mind explaining to me what appears to be so funny?” he asked.

“Yeah, Katie! Tell us all what happened last night.” Alyssa chimed in.

“Nothing.” I mumble as I stare at the ground, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

“Oh? What happened last night that everyone is so keen to talk about?” he asked.Why can’t teachers just mind their own business? Seriously.

“If she won’t say what happened, the rest of us will gladly spill.” Alyssa said taking full advantage of the situation. I don’t say anything; I just continue my examination thorough of the ground.

“Well?” he asks. “Who would like to share? Since this appears to be so much more interesting then the life cycle of a beetle.” I can’t believe I’m thinking this…but. Please, I want to hear about the beetle. Pleeeeeaaaaaaassssseeee. Talk about the beetle!I look up at Alyssa and give her one of those haven’t-you-already-humiliated-me-enough-for-one-day-looks. This only appears to have only egged her on since without missing a beat she responds with

“I will! Katie wet the bed last night!” The crowd explodes with laughter once again. I won’t run away. I won’t run away. I won’t run away. I won’t give them that satisfaction. I look up as the laughter starts to die down.

My biology teacher simply raised his eyebrows at me and says, “Katie, aren’t you a little too old to still be wetting the bed? No wonder you tried to get out of going yesterday.” Okay, that’s two people I now hate. If he was trying to make people laugh, it worked. And okay… I ran away. But c’mon, isn’t that reason enough? And you know what Allison and Jaclyn were doing after he said that. You want to know?

Laughing. Yeah that’s right, they were laughing just as hard as everyone else there.  
At least this time when I ran away, I didn’t go hide in a porta-potty for a half-hour. I just hid in the cabin. Which I guess, wasn’t really hiding, but it got me away from everyone. I am seriously having the worst day of my life, no the worst week. No even better, month. Ever since I stated having those stupid dreams, my life has been going downhill.

First I’m wetting the bed, which is bad enough. Then I get a 105 fever, and then have to be taken to the emergency room, only to get a huge needle shoved into my ass, oh yes, that was highly pleasant. Then I’m flailing around on the floor during detention, which I then am humiliated by school nurse by forcing me to show her my wet pants. Then Allison finds out, and then Alyssa tells AND shows the entire tenth grade class, well girls at least, which is just as bad as guys and girls. I get into a fight with my best friend, and then once again publicly humiliated. I don’t think I can take much more of this.

Maybe a walk will help. Try to get my thoughts and whatnot together. I don’t know how long I walked for, possibly two hours at least (A.K.A. half-hour)  
which pretty much got me no where, just tired me out some.I should really go apologize to Allison…I guess. But what if she’s doesn’t take it? What if she still mad at me. Okay after that last bit back there, she has to at least feel somewhat sorry for me. I mean, how much more embarrassing could it possibly get?

“Katie, why aren’t you with the group?” I look up to see Florence Nightingale sticking her head out one of the buildings.

“Oh, hi.” I say looking back down at the ground. “Some stuff happened and I had to leave.”

“Would you like to come in?” she asked. Not really, seeing as this whole walking thing is getting me nowhere, I accept. I walk in to a small little room with just a bed, chair, cabinet and sink. I sit on the bed and she grabs the chair, spins it around and sits down facing me. We just sit there for a moment in silence until she finally says something.

“Allison told me what happened this morning.” She starts this usual conversation and my eyes go to their usual place. The ground. “Allison is only trying to help you; you should go easier on her.”

Okay, this I wasn’t expecting. I was expecting something more around the lines of “ I’m so sorry that happened, Alyssa’s getting expelled.” Yeah, that’d be nice. But no, I’m the one getting scolded, after everything that’s happened. Go figure.

“Right, after everything that she’s done today, she’s taking Alyssa’s side on it. That’s really helping.” I say unable to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.

 

“I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about her trying to tell you about God. She told me about it when we were walking to find you this morning. She seemed so excited that you were making progress.” 

Ugh not you too. I just shrug my shoulders and continue examining the floor boards.

“She really does have your best intentions at heart, and you just blew up right in her face.” I look up, shocked at what she’s saying. “You really should give it another chance.”

I simply shake my head and say. “It’s not my sort of thing.”

“It’s your choice.”

“I guess, but I still don’t understand why I’m having these dreams, let alone the…um…other thing that’s been happening because of them.”

“I’m sure it will be revealed to you when the time is right.”

“You can’t possibly think there’s a purpose for all this?”

“Actually I do, I think there’s a purpose for everything.”

“Look, part of me does want to believe all this, but a bigger part of me says it’s a load of crap.”

“Then let’s focus more on the part that does want to believe it. I know deep down inside, you know we’re not alone.”

Okay, she’s starting to sound like something off of the sci-fi channel. This is getting too weird. But yet, there’s just something that’s keeping me here, curiosity maybe, I don’t know. Whatever it is, it’s giving me goose bumps. She notices this and places her arm on mine. That’s when things really start to get weird.

I’m having flash backs of all the things that’s been happening in my dreams, except from the look on Florence Nightingale’s face, she sees it to.

First I’m at the school and I see the guy ask Allison the question, she says yes and gets killed. I say no and also get killed, I see Alyssa standing behind me.  
I’m then in front of God, having to replay the awful feeling of guilt and shame. He shows me my sins, and then I’m sent to hell after he shows how I didn’t accept Him. I feel the pain of the boils and the acid, and the things that are said to me. And then it stops.

I look up and I’m lying on the floor. My head is throbbing; I figure I landed on it. I look around to see what happened. I feel shaky again and am covered in a cold sweat. I look up at Florence, who managed to at least stay in her seat without blacking out.

“Katie, are you alright?” she asks as she stretches out her hand to help me off the ground.

“What happened?” I ask in a shaky voice as I sit back down on the bed.

“Did I just see what you’ve been dreaming?” she asked in a dazed sort of voice.

“Well, what did you see?”

“When I touched you, I saw the school then I saw Allison lying on the ground, then I saw all of these…creatures.”

“Yep.” I say, “That’s the one.” She sits back down and thinks for a moment. She seems just as pale as I am which is saying something because I usually look whiter than Casper.

“Those aren’t normal dreams.” She says finally, almost in a whisper. “Katie, I think it’s trying to tell you something, you need to listen.”

I know this is true, I’m just, I don’t know. Now that this has refreshed itself into my mind, I feel more afraid than ever.I know what their trying to tell me is true, it’s just… I don’t want to admit they’re right I suppose.

“So… what happened out there that made you leave?” she says, bringing up the one conversation I wish she wouldn’t.

“Another public announcement of my lack of self control, and Mr. Lenord only made it worse.”

“It’s not your fault, this isn’t normal what you’ve been experiencing, and maybe it’s just freaking your body out or something. Or maybe, there’s a point to it all. You never know.”

“Okay, I doubt that, but they don’t know that.”

“Are you even friends with these people, or care about any of them?”

“Well, no.”

“Then there’s no point worrying over it, it’s not like your trying to impress these people.”

“It’s still the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“I know your right. If it will make things easier, you can sleep in here instead.”

“CAN I? YES! THANK YOU!” I say, practically screaming from excitement.” I was planning on sleeping outside, but this is so much better. I will be eternally grateful.”

“No problem, there’s some blankets in the cupboards over there. Just do me one more favor.”

“What?” I ask, expecting some embarrassing request to clean up afterwards or something.

“Have Allison stay here with you and work things out with her." Phew. That’s it.

“Ha okay. If she will ever talk to me again.” I say, relieved she has not chosen to embarrass me like every one else has.

“Don’t worry about it, she will.” She says, giving me a reassuring smile.

“Thanks again for everything Mrs. Uh… nurse person.” I say, as I realize I don’t even know her name.

“You can call me Amanda.” She says.

“Oh okay. Thanks for helping me through this. It means a lot to me.”

“No problem.” She says as she flashes me another smile. I smile back and leave to go find Allison.I look in the cabin, but it looks like they aren’t back yet.  
I try to sit and wait, but I get to antsy and nervous, so I decide to go out and look for her. I walk down the path that leads down to the lake, making sure to keep my mouth closed as I rehearse in my head what I’m going to say to her.

I see them of at a distance, so I take a deep breath and walk over that way, taking my sweet time getting there.I make an attempt at sneaking by people to get to Al, but it doesn’t quite work out that way. Once I’m spotted, the crowd erupts with laughter, which instantly signals to Al and Jaclyn that I have arrived. Great.

“Glad to see you’ve made it back, Miss Devo, we were just discussing the different nutrients that are found in this soil.”

Well to bad I’m going to miss that, really, I would have loved to stick around and listen to you talk about dirt, but I have much more important maters to take care of.

I make my way over to Al, pushing past (a little harder then necessary) the people who are standing there snickering at me.

“Al, I need to talk to you.” I whisper into her ear. She doesn’t respond, she just stands there and pretends I’m not there. “Al really, I really need to talk to you.”

“Well to bad, I’m busy.” She snaps back.

“I want to apologize.”

“Fine, well start talking.” She says, still looking toward the front.

“Not here.” I say as I point back in the direction of camp. She gives me a look of uncertainty then looks back towards the front. Allison is the kind of person who would never break the rules, so she must have been pretty bored if she was willing to sneak out and follow me back to camp, which somewhat surprised me. We walk back to camp in silence and I lead her back over to our bunk beds.

“Look Al, I’m really sorry about what I said. I didn’t mean it.”She looks down and doesn’t say anything.A signal to keep going. “Look. I’ve been thinking about what you said all day, and I think you're right. Al, I’m really sorry about what I said earlier, I swear I didn’t mean it, I’ve just been under a lot of stress from the whole nightmares and whatnot. Then the thing that happened this morning.”

“It’s okay, I forgive you.” Al says after thinking it over for a few minutes as she pulling me into a hug, which I gladly accept while we hang out talking the rest of the evening until Jaclyn came looking for us. I had really almost expected a long drawn out fight with me ending up groveling for forgiveness. Thankfully she’s not one to hold a grudge.

“Well when you two are done being all sentimental over there, dinners being served now, so if anyone cares, I’m going to go get some food. Unlike some people” Jaclyn says as she glares at me. “We had to walk all day so I’m starving.”

“I would have gladly walked instead of being under the conditions that I’m in right now.” I point out.

“Oh yeah, by the way, I’m pretty sure they’re going to pull the covers off you again. So unless you somehow gained some self- control over there, I’d sleep somewhere else tonight.”

“Yeah, I already got that taken care of.” I say.

“What sleeping arrangements or self control?”

“Sleeping arrangements. Amanda’s letting me sleep in her work station tonight.” I say as I get up and starting packing my bag back up.

“Who’s Amanda?” Al and Jaclyn ask at the same time.

“Oh, she’s that person I’ve been talking to.” I say as I get up.

“Please don’t tell me you’ve been having hallucinations with those nightmares of yours.” Jaclyn says as she raises her eyebrows at me.

“No. She’s the nurse person.” I say as I cling to the railing of the bed for support as I make an attempt to walk.

“Oh. You mean Florence Nightingale?” Jaclyn asks.

“Yeah. Something really weird happened when I was in there talking to her today. She touched my arm, and then we both started seeing bits and pieces from my dreams. Then I woke up on the floor.”

“You really are a psychopath, you know that?” Jaclyn says impatiently by the door waiting for us to get ready for dinner.

“Oh, by the way, she says I can stay the night only if you come with me.” I say to Al.

“Oh, well no offense or anything, but there’s no way I’m sharing a bed with you.”

“Don’t worry. It’s too small to fit both of us in there, one of us is going to have to sleep on the floor.”

“Hey I’m doing you a favor. I get the bed.”

“No way it’s mine.”

“In your dreams.”

“In my dreams, you don’t get the bed, you get the body bag.” I point out.

“Ha, let’s not go there.” She says. “And besides, so do you.”

“Which means both of you will be dead, which leaves the bed completely open for me so I won’t be stuck in here with whoever it is that snores. Didn’t you guys hear her last night?” Jaclyn asks halfway through the door motioning for us to hurry up and continue our conversation on the way. “Are we ever going to get to eat or what?”

“Okay okay, we’re coming.” I say as I try not to think about what’s going to happen when I get there. “I didn’t hear anyone snoring last night. I fell asleep pretty early.”

“Ugh. Lucky, it took me forever to fall asleep.” moans Al. “At least I won’t have to deal with it tonight.” She smiles as Jaclyn gives us both a glare. When we walked in, it was normal enough. No one, as usual, paid any attention to our existence. Just the way I like it. Sure, there was the occasional wise crack, like for instance when we were in line. The poor bored people who got stuck with kitchen duty, making a feeble attempt to entertain themselves when they pass out their assigned item.

“Juice for you, Juice for you.” They said as the line moved on. I recognized one of the girls from my cabin. Oh great.  
“Juice for you.” She said as Jaclyn passed down. “No juice for you.” Is what was said when I passed. I pass by without argument, not wanting to start anything with that subject. She continues her little chant to the lucky people who get something to drink. Well, the lucky people who don’t happen to be me anyway.

So we go sit down at a table near the back, then something even more surprising happens. Jamie and some of his friends come and join us.

“Hey, what’s up?” he asks me. This surprising me so much, I start choking on my plastic fork.

I’m sooo good at flirting.

After him hearing what I wrote in my journal, I thought he’d never speak to me again. I manage to hold on to what little dignity I had left and say hi back.

“Look, I heard what Alyssa did to you, and we’ve come to help you out.” He said getting to the point.

“What do you mean?” I ask. What could he possibly do to help me? And more importantly, WHY would he want to help me. He flashes me a smile, a smile that says nothing short of revenge.

“What are you planning?” I ask cautiously.

“Oh, just a little something.” He says, trying to sound all innocent and whatnot. “I need to know what she likes and fears.”

“Umm she hates bugs, values her hair with her life, and for some reason has a strange addiction to Pringles.”

I look over at Al who I thought for sure was going to say something against it, but it’s been a surprising day. She seemed totally into it.

“You can put bugs in an empty can of Pringles.” She threw in, which just about shocked everyone at the table. “What? Stop looking at me like that. I have an evil side too you know.”

“Okay, that’s a good one, any other ideas?” he asked.

“Well we have to do the whole hand in warm water thing.” Said Jaclyn, it’s only ironic that she wets the bed.”

“Does that even work? Well whatever, her hair has to go down.” I say. “Let’s put shaving cream in it, it will turn it into a rock.”

“Sweet.” He said. “We need something big though. All the girls in your cabin we’re involved. Let’s hit them all. Except of course you three.” He says, pointing toward us.

“Let’s take all their bras and underwear, dip them in starch, and put them outside in the cold. They’ll turn hard as a rock.” Al said with an evil grin.

We all blankly stare up at Al. Where is she coming up with all this stuff? Has she been holding this evil side inside her all this time? She ignores our stares and continues. "We can name tag them, then throw some embarrassing underwear up there and put their names on it.”

This is really getting scary. I think I’m rubbing off on her. Even Jamie seemed shocked, and he’s the one always going around joking saying there’s a little bit of evil in everyone.

“When good girls go bad.” Jaclyn said in a dramatic voice.

“Okay everyone needs to do something. We need someone to get bugs, someone to get shaving cream, an empty can of Pringles and.” Jamie said trying to not laugh “A bra fetcher. And no, not you two.” He sighs towards Anthony and Josh.

“ Fine. We’ll get the bugs.” Moaned the guys in disappointment.

“I’ll get the bras.” Jaclyn said with a malicious grin on her face as she got up and ran back to the girls’ cabin.

“Okay, me and Katie will sneak into the kitchen later and get the shaving cream and starch. Al you can find the Pringles can and warm water.”

“Alright.”

“Okay, we’ll all meet outside by the oak tree at midnight with all the supplies.”


	9. Chapter 9

“So… why are you doing all this?” I ask out of curiosity and since the silence was killing me. He shrugs his shoulders. “She read your journal to us. That was cruel, even on my level.”

“Oh. Is that all she said, was my journal?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Did she say what she did this morning?”

“No what?” Well everyone else knows, it’s not like he’s not going to find out.

“Well, she got all the girls around my bed, read my journal out loud, and then um…pulled the covers off.” I say as I turn a deep shade of red.

“I’m filling her bug repellent with sugar and water for that.” He seemed completely serious too, almost mad.” So what’s up with the whole dream thing?” His turn to fill in the silence.

“Well, it’s kind of a long story.” I say, not really wanting to get into it.

“We’ve got like three hours to kill.”

“Alright.” So I told him. I told him about the nightmares, about seeing Allison dying and getting saved, and the questions that came with them.

“Whoa…that’s…. scary.” he said finally after a few moments of silence. “I’m really sorry about what Alyssa did to you. That must have been really….”

“Yeah. I had tried to get out of going the other day, but it didn’t work so well. “ What I’m curious bout is why he is not repulsed by this little fact.

“Well we should go get our supplies now, everyone else is gone, even the kitchen staff.”

“Okay, so what do we need?”

“Umm…Sugar, starch, shaving cream, and glue.”

“I’ll go get Alyssa’s bug repellent can.”

“And I’ll get some shaving cream. Meet me back in five?”

“Okay.” I say as I run over to the cabin. After everything that’s gone on today, I can’t say it’s gone too badly. Sure I want to totally block it out of my memory, but not all of it’s been bad. When I enter, I find Al and Jaclyn sitting on their bed trying to suppress their giggles.

“Did you get them?” I ask.

“Yep.” Said Jaclyn pointing under Al’s mattress giggling.

“Sweet.” I say. “Al did you get one of her cans?”

“Yeah.”

“Anyway we can get her bug repellent?” I ask. “It wouldn’t look good going through her stuff with all these people in here.”

“This place got a P.A. system?” asked Jaclyn as she sits up.

“Yeah, in one of those buildings. Why?” I ask.

“I have an idea. Come with me, we’ll need Florence Nightingale’s help.” She led me over to her workstation and knocked on her door.

“Oh hello.” Amanda said as she saw us standing there.

“We need a favor from you.” Jaclyn said as she scribbled something on a piece of paper from her pocket. “We need you to read this off on the intercom.”

“Why is there something wrong?” she asked as she read Jaclyn’s note.

“We need to get the other girls out of the cabin. We're trying to play a little prank and we can’t, unless they leave.”

“I don’t know if I can do that.”

"Please, it’s to get Alyssa, you heard what she did to poor Katie this morning. We just need to get them out for like a second. After you make that announcement, you can say two minutes later that the meeting was cancelled. Please.” She looked uncertain for a moment and after a few minutes of pleading from Jaclyn, she finally gave in and headed over to the P.A. system.

“C’mon we don’t have much time.” Jaclyn said as she dragged me back to the cabin. We waited at the side in the dark until we hear Amanda’s voice over the intercom.

“Attention all tenth grade girls. A mandatory meeting is being held now in the cafeteria to discuss the conditions of the showers. I repeat all tenth grade girls mandatory meeting in the cafeteria.”

“Now we wait for them to leave.” She whispered to me. And sure enough 30 seconds later, all the girls came out mumbling about their time being wasted.  
We waited 'till they were out of sight then snuck back in and searched through Alyssa’s bag for her can of Off.

“She’s got the entire mall compressed in a bag.” Said Jaclyn as she digs through all of the clothes and make up. “A hair dryer? A curling iron? And a hair straightener. What doesn’t she have in here?”

“Just hurry up and grab the bottle, Amanda’s going to announce the cancellation any minute and we still have to go over there.”

“Stop calling her that, it’s creepy.”

“What? That’s what she told me to call her.”

“Whatever. Here I got it; now lets get out of here befo- ohh look at that color!”

“No, leave it alone!” I say as I drag her away from Alyssa’s nail polish collection. Who brings nail polish to a lake?

I zip up the bag and step out just in time as the intercom goes off and announces that the meeting has been cancelled. We run back behind the building and wait for the pissed off girls to return.

“C’mon let's go.” She said as she dragged me by the arm back over to Amanda’s station.

“How’d it go?” she asked when she saw us.

“Good. Thanks for all your help.”

“What did you do? Do I even want to know?”

“Phase one is complete, I’ll leave it at that.” She said, a hint of a grin escaping her lips.

“I’m not even going to ask.”

“So why are you not being all teachery on us?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, telling us off for what were doing. Being teachery.”

“Well for one, I have no idea what you two are up to. And two, I’m not a teacher am I?” she said as she winked at us. “Now I’m going to bed, lights go out in ten minutes. I’ll leave the door unlocked for you, Katie.”

“Thanks.”

“Good night.” She said as she walked past us and out into the darkness.

“Well, let’s go do what we need to do to this and get back before Allison has a cow.” Jaclyn said and she started walking over to the kitchen.  
I walk silently behind her and I start to wonder. Am I doing the right thing here? Will getting even with her really make me feel any better?  
Part of me is saying of course it will, but there’s this other part… Maybe it’s not too late to back out.

“It’s locked!” Jaclyn said in disgust as she tried the door. Phew, if we can’t get the supplies, we can’t go through with it. “I bet that isn’t.” she said pointing up over the door to a small window barely able to squeeze someone through.

“How are we supposed to even get up there?” I ask as I stare at her in disbelief. “Oh no. You’re not standing on top of me!”

“Well how else am I going to get up there? I’m lighter then you, and probably the only one able to squeeze through there.” I know I sometimes let people walk on me, but I didn’t know it was so literal. I sigh and get down on my hands and knees.

“Ouch! Watch where you’re putting your feet.” I yell up at her as she steps up on my back.

“Oh, hold on.” She says as she tries to gain her balance and lifts her arms up to the window sill. “I can’t reach it, any way you can elevate yourself?”

“Umm… not really.” I moan as her feet sink into my back. She stands on her toes, as her weight is further pressed into me.

“Got it. It’s unlocked.”

“Great. Now hurry up and get off my back!” I yell up at her. She opens the window and lifts herself up with her arms. Relief!  
I roll out from under her and watch as she ducks her head under and disappears inside. I hear a loud thump as she hits the ground. A light inside flickers on and the door unlatches. I get up slowly, trying to ignore the pain in my back, and let myself in. The sudden burst of light makes my eyes burn; I squint around and see Jaclyn dumping the contents of the bottle of Off! in the sink.

“Go look through the cupboards for the sugar will you?” She asks as she rinses out the canister.

“How’d you even know what we were going to do with this?” I ask.

“I have three brothers. We do this stuff all the time. Now go find the sugar.” I look through about a dozen doors until I finally find it.

“So what is this going to do exactly?” I ask as I hand it to her.

“When she sprays this stuff on, she’ll attract every bug and mosquito from a mile around.” She said as she shook up the can of water and sugar. “Trust me, I speak from experience.”

“Are you sure we should be doing this?” I ask. “Doesn’t this seem a little too extreme?”

“Are you crazy? Like what she did to you wasn’t? What else do we need?” Jaclyn asked as she browsed through the cupboards.

“Umm…starch.”

“Oh okay. Here it is.” She said as she grabbed it and threw it on the counter. ”Anything else?”

“I think that’s it. The guys are getting the bugs, Allison’s in charge of the can and water, Jamie’s getting the shaving cream, and you got the bras.”

“Sweet. Now come on and let’s get out of here before someone sees the lights on.”

“Oh no! I forgot to meet Jamie; I was supposed to meet him after I got the can. He’s waiting for me outside the cafeteria.”

“We’ll stop by on the way back,” she said as she held the door open and motioning for me to grab the supplies and hurry up. I grab them off the counter, turn the lights off and follow Jaclyn outside.

“What took you so long?” Jamie asked as we arrived at the cafeteria.

“Sorry, we made a quick pit stop on the way.” I say as I hold up the bottle of starch and modified bug spray.

“Oh cool. You already got it. I got the shaving cream.” he said holding up the can. “And I found some random containers lying around our cabin we can use. Oh and there’s Anthony and Josh.” Jamie said pointing up at the outline of two figures making their way towards us. “You have the can of Pringles, right?”

“Argh, Allison has it.” Jaclyn said. “I’ll be right back; I’ll go get it from her.” We watch in silence as Jaclyn bounds toward the entrance of the girls cabin and reappear with Allison by her side.

“You got the can?” Jamie asks Allison motioning toward her arm.

“Yeah, but I couldn’t find an empty one, guess we got to eat um first.”

“Works for me!” Anthony says as he makes a grab for the can in Allison’s hand. 

“Forget about the food, look! Bras!” Josh said as he points up at Jaclyn. I look over and notice Jaclyn carrying a handful of everyone’s bras in her arms. She rolls her eyes and lifts them over her head as Josh makes a lunge for them. What else is on guys minds besides food and girls underwear?

“Back off pervert. We need to freeze them.” Jaclyn says as she dumps them on my lap.

“Where are we going to hang them? “ Allison asked as she stuffed a handful of chips in her mouth.

“There!” Jaclyn said as she pointed up to the tops of the dead oak tree branches. “Nice and open.”

“Toss me one of those containers.” I say to Jamie. I pour the starch in one and one by one dip the bras in it and hand them off to Jaclyn as she scales up the tree. I watch as she climbs to each branch and hangs them on individual branch. She jumped down and examined her work with pride. It looked like a giant, dead, bra decorated Christmas tree.

“There. That ought to leave a nice impression on them. Don’t you think?” she said as she wiped the tree sap on my sleeve. As weird as I felt about doing this, I couldn’t help but stand back and admire Jaclyn’s work. It’s just a prank I told myself. No ones getting hurt, it’s all for fun. Our fun anyway.

“We really need to take a picture of this.” I say, as I look up at all the bras dangling from the tree branches. It’s not everyday you would see something like this. It was quite amusing.

“What’s next?” Allison asked as she ate the last of the chips.

“Umm… the bugs.” Jamie said as he turned toward Anthony and Josh.

“We gotcha covered.” One of them said as they emptied their pockets to reveal a handfuls of larva.

“Ewe, you put those in your pockets?” Jaclyn asked in disgust. They just shrugged their shoulders and dumped them into the Pringles can. They then glued the paper seal back on and placed the white cap on.

“Anyone got a pen?” Josh asked as he pulled a sticky note out of his pocket.

“Jaclyn’s got one.” I say. She didn’t look too happy that I said that. She glares at me, before reluctantly handing it over to the hands that recently held maggots. We watch as he scribbles something on the sticky note, and then sticks it on the can.

“Go stick this in your cabin; she’s bound to open it in the morning.” He said to Allison.

“Wait one more thing. Here, stick her hand in this.” Jamie said as he poured a clear liquid into a bowl, which I could only assume was the warm water.

“I’ll do that!” I gladly volunteered.

Jaclyn shook her head. “Katie, Katie, poor naïve, Katie. Sorry.” She said as she rested her arm on my shoulder. “But, we all know what will happen if you do it. You can’t walk five feet without spilling something. By the time you get there, there won’t be any water left in the dish.” I look to see them all nodding in agreement, guilty expressions written across their faces.

“Fine. Al can do it.” I say glumly. I must say, Al couldn’t have done a better job then me, when she came back, half of it was down the front of her.  
And I thought I was the only clumsy one around here.

“For some one who’s supposed to be all perfect and whatnot, she sure snores.”

“That’s who was snoring last night? It sounded like a small animal was being tortured,” said Jaclyn “Did she wake up at all when you put her hand in it?”

“No, that was the weird part. She just got this funny looking smile on.” said Al.

“Anything else?” I ask, trying to get a part in the plans, besides being a human footstool.

“Here.” Jamie said as he tossed me the can of shaving cream. “Just remember, be quiet.”

Me? Not quiet? Who do they think there talking to here? I didn’t get voted Most Likely to Forget How to Talk for nothing. Or was it Most Likely to Fall Down a Flight of Stairs? I can’t remember.Well anyway I sneak back over to our cabin, not making any noise.  
Well okay, I might have made a little noise when I jammed my finger in the screen door, and possibly when I dropped the shaving cream can. But other than that, I was quiet as a mouse.

I glance around the room and try to figure out which bed Alyssa was sleeping in, which was pretty easy considering all I had to do was follow the snores.  
Allison wasn’t kidding. If someone didn’t know people were sleeping here, I swear they’d call animal control. When I creep up to her bed, I couldn’t help but laugh a little at the sight of her with her hand in the water. I wish I had a camera. I get on the other side; shake the can up, and then Jaclyn walks in.

“What are you doing?” I hiss at her.

“What am I doing? What are you doing? It’s shaving cream not spray paint. Just squirt it.” She whispers at me.

“What are you doing though?”

“Making sure you don’t wake up everybody. You, plus a dark room, equals trouble.”I ignore her. I mean I’m not THAT clumsy… I think. I only dropped the can once, and nobody even stirred. I press the squirt button as I watch the white foam squirt into Alyssa’s hair. I got to admit this made me smile. I moved it around and tried to make little designs, I almost made Mickey Mouse ears, but the can ran out. So she just has one ear, and a blob.  
Jaclyn just shakes her head at whispers, “Weirdo” at me.

“Okay, let’s go.” I whisper.

“I’m tired, I’m going to bed. I’ll get you and Allison up before the show starts.” She whispers back.

“Okay. Good night.” I say as I grab the blankets off Al’s bed and mine. I got to admit, I was pretty tired too, but Allison beats us all.  
At first, I thought I was seeing someone else, but when I came closer, I was shocked to see it really was her. We did the impossible. We wore out Miss A.D.H.D. I came back to find her leaning up against our bra tree asleep. I give her a shake and lead her back over to the nurse station. I tossed her one of the spare blankets, and even let her have the bed. I was going to ask her something, but it was too late, she was gone. At least she doesn’t snore.

I set up a spot for myself on the floor and lay down. As soon as I do, my mind shot off, probably even faster than Alyssa’s mouth when she sees what we did the next morning.

“So, that’s it right? You got my attention, and I believe in you now. No more nightmares, right? That was the point of the nightmares, right? For me to get saved. And now I am.” I whisper. I mean. There can’t possibly be any other reason for me to keep having them. God used them to get my attention, just like everyone said He did. There’s no purpose to keep having them. Right?

I close my eyes, confident that it would be over. Maybe I’ll finally get good, dry nights sleep.

 

It’s one of those beautiful days outside today. It’s crystal clear outside. The suns shinning down on me, there’s not a cloud in the sky. The grass is green all around me, in all directions.I look over to see a group of people over to my right. There are flowers everywhere. I wonder what’s going on.  
It’s such a great day, so why is everybody…crying?

Curiosity is getting the best of me, so I walk over to see what’s going on. I finally figure it out. It’s a funeral. But for who is it for?  
Wait, I recognize some of these people. Some of these kids are from my homeroom class. And I recognize him from detention! Who died? Was it someone from school?

My feet seemed to lead the way, regardless of what I wanted them to do. I look over in the front row and see…my mom? I walk over to her.

“What’s going on?” I ask her. She doesn’t look up, or answer. I ask again, but this time louder. Still there’s no response from her. She won’t look at me. She just kept this really vacant expression on her face. I begin to feel extremely annoyed. Why is she ignoring me? I look and see as she begins to cry. I feel the anger begin to drain away, and I begin to feel sorry for her.

“It’s okay, mom. Don’t cry.” I say. Still she gives me no response. I wave my hand in front of her face. She still doesn’t even look at me! Almost like she doesn’t even…see me. I shake the idea out of my head. She’s probably just mad at me for something. Maybe she found the pink sheets under my bed. They were kind of expensive sheets. But still…I walk on and look at all the crying people.

Then something strikes me. I see Alyssa’s clones sitting near the front; they look horrible. I’ve never seen them without Alyssa leading the way. Where is…Chills begin to run up and down my body again. Something’s telling me to look up, I really don’t want to. I don’t want to look up! I suck in my breath and do it anyway. The blood drains from my face as I look at the picture of the deceased. It’s Alyssa. I look back at all the sad, crying faces. I see my mom crying again. Jeez, I know she liked her, but c’mon. I had a strange feeling in my stomach that Alyssa wasn’t the reason she was crying so hard. I see her get up, and walk away.

I follow by her side. She still refuses to acknowledge my presence. It started to hurt, what did I do to her? This I could tell was far more serious then a couple of sheets. But what?

I follow her as she walks down through the cemetery; she silently cries the whole time.

“Mom! What’s wrong?” I ask. Still, she just continues to walk, like I never even said anything. I look on ahead a ways and see a young man with his head bowed, standing in front of a tombstone. Next to him stands an older man, also with his head bowed. She walks up to them and cries harder.  
The young man begins to silently cry as well. It’s…Alex. Why is he here? Let alone out of his room. This is getting scary. Really scary. What’s going on? And the older guy is…my dad! “What’s going on?” I yell at them.

I want answers. They don’t look at me either. Like I never even spoke. I walk up to my dad, and place my hand on his shoulder. Well I was going to, that is, until my hand went right through him. I step back in shock. I try again, and once again my hand goes right through him. I try to touch my mom and Alex, only to have my hand go right through them as well. They seem to have felt nothing. At this point I was scared. More than scared, terrified!

They all remain quiet and stare silently at the tombstone. I can’t see whose name is on it, they’re blocking my view of it. Well…if it works for my hand, why not my whole body? I take a deep breath and walk through. An icy chill shoots through my body.

“It’s cold.” My mom said silently, almost a whisper as she tugs her jacket closer to herself. I turn my attention away from them and stare at what they were looking at. At first, it didn’t make sense. It looked like any other tombstone around here. I blink, slightly confused. No! That can’t be right! There has to be a mistake! But it was there, plain as day.I stand silently and read.  
Katie Marie Devo  
Daughter, Sister, and Friend.  
Rest in Peace  
1991-2007

What! I can’t be dead! I’m right here! I look up at them, hoping this has to be some sort of joke. But they weren’t there.  
I watch as they silently walk away, leaving me there.I begin to feel a falling sensation, a sensation I’ve been becoming quite accustomed to.

“Go to the bathroom before bed” I hear.

I feel a pair of hands cling to my arms and shake. I jolt my eyes open. Jaclyn stands over me, shaking me awake.

“Ewe, you’re all sweaty.” She said in disgust as she wipes her hands on her pants.

“Huh? Oh sorry.” I moan.

“Well get up, we don’t want to be late for the screams.” She said as she steps over me to go wake up Allison. I don’t budge.“What are you waiting for? Get up!”

“Umm…I can’t.” I say as I feel my face go red. Allison sits up and she and Jaclyn exchange glances. The room is soon filled with giggles. I can’t help but laugh with them for a moment at my expense.

“Should we?” Jaclyn asks Allison. They begin to laugh again and come dramatically slow towards me.

“No!” I say pulling up the blankets my face turning a brighter shade of red. That doesn’t stop them and soon blankets are in their fists and they’re pulling it off. I laugh as I try to fight to keep the blanket down. They out do me and soon the blankets are off and we’re all cracking up.  
It’s just us, this I can handle. I can at least laugh at myself.

“So? Who wants to get me some clothes?” I ask.

“Here. I already got them.” She said as she throws them at me. I get up and walk into the bathroom to change. I can hear them cracking up all over again at the wet blanket under me. I don’t mind though, as long as no one else sees it anyway.  
I quickly get cleaned up and dressed. I find a trash bag and stuff my old clothes in it. What am I going to do with the blanket though? Steal it?  
I come to a conclusion. I wet it down in the sink, wring it out, and stuff it under the mattress. At least that was the last night we’re here.

“C’mon lets go before they wake up.” Jaclyn said as she pushed us out the door.

We walk past our bra tree and laugh. They’re clearly frozen stiff, and no one noticed it yet. We sneak back into the cabin and laugh somewhat silently at the sight of Alyssa’s hair. We remove her hand from the water and dump it outside. If she really wet the bed, people won’t know it’s a prank, and neither will she. We lie back in bed and wait. One by one they wake up, and of course they don’t notice Alyssa at first.  
They all come to me to see if I wet the bed again. I show them all the dry mattress under me, disappointed, they quickly loose interest.  
Finally someone notices Alyssa.

“Alyssa! What did you do to your hair?” one girl asked.

“What are you talking about?” she grunts. She places her hands on her head and screams. She runs for a mirror and sees the shaving cream, which is completely hardened, leaving a thick, white shell on her head. The girls begin to crack up, harder than ever. “It’s not funny!” she screams.

One of the girls, after catching her breath, points down at her shorts. Me, Al, and Jaclyn crack up loudly along with everyone else. It actually worked!

She screams in horror and runs into the bathroom with her bag. We all laugh loudly for about ten minutes, until someone looks through their bag to change.

“Has anyone seen my bras?” one of the girls asks.

“Mine are missing too!” another shouts out. All the girls are soon digging through their bags. None are able to find them.  
“Someone took our bras!”

“That’s not all I took.” Jaclyn whispered to us and winked. She lifted up Allison’s mattress and revealed at least ten pairs of underwear.

“Whose are those?” I ask starring from the underwear back to Jaclyn.

“Wait for it…” she said as she put a hand up to silence me. And right on cue came a scream of frustration coming from the bathroom.

“You took Alyssa’s underwear?” I ask trying not to laugh in front of the other girls, who were still looking for their missing bras.

“Every pair I could find.” Jaclyn said proudly.” She doesn’t know the meaning of packing light.”I look over at Allison, who had to hold a pillow over her mouth to keep from laughing, as she watched all the girls looking for their missing clothing.

Ten minutes later, when Alyssa finally came out of the bathroom, looking slightly uncomfortable. Her hair, still completely shelled in. Giggles erupting from the room. They, at least, saw the irony of what happened.

“Who took all my underwear and bras?” she screamed.

Another girl called out, “All of our bras our missing.”

“Ugh.” Alyssa moaned quietly, trying to hide her red face as she threw her bedding under her mattress, and threw herself onto the bed. “I hate these stupid mosquitoes!” she moaned as she grabbed her bug spray and sprayed it all over herself. Allison started laughing out loud and me and Jaclyn elbowed her in the ribs at the same time.

“What are you laughing at?” she sneered.

A girl asked a couple beds away, “What’s that noise? There’s a weird humming sound coming from somewhere.”

“Yeah, I hear it too.” Another girl said. I heard it as well, and judging by the looks on Al’s and Jaclyn’s faces, so did they.

“That’s not from us is it?” I ask them. Jaclyn shakes her head.

“I don’t think so.” Said Al as she looked around the room for the source.

“If I ever catch who did this, I’m going to kill them!” Alyssa yelled as she reached for the can of Pringles in the front. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but I could have sworn it was vibrating. We saw her read the note Josh stuck to it which read: Compliments from the staff.  
She tore the note off and pulled of the first seal. Okay, I swear the noise is coming from the can. I look over at Al and Jaclyn they see it too. Uh-oh.  
She tore the re-sealed seal off and about a hundred flies shot out through the top and out into the cabin.

Alyssa screamed and dropped it. The rest of the girls began screaming and running out, and we gladly joined them.  
We look over and see Alyssa gagging and spitting flies out of her mouth. She looks pissed.  
We look inside the window and see the room, which is now completely filled with flies, giving off an extremely loud buzzing noise. Some other girls joined us and watched, puzzled expressions filled their faces. Others wanted as far away as possible, others still screaming and dancing around, making sure there was nothing on them. We all exchange looks with each other.

That wasn’t supposed to happen, but I got to say, it gave things an interesting twist. The three of us laugh nervously among ourselves.We hear some more shouts, and realize people have noticed our little bra tree. Every guy here was standing under, gazing with amazement. All except Jamie, he was standing a little behind staring with amusement as all the girls came over, dumbstruck at the sight of all their bras, completely frozen, hanging from the branches from the clips.

“Oh…my…God…” we heard some of the girls call out.

We couldn’t keep it in any more; the three of us completely lost it. We stood there, barely, laughing as hard as we could. Every little thing was causing us to laugh harder. Mr. Lenord, running out in his bathrobe to see what all the commotion was, for instance. He came out and asked us what was going on, but we couldn’t give him a straight answer, we couldn’t stop laughing.

I managed to calm down long enough to point up to the tree, but seeing his expression when he followed my gaze, only made it all start over again.

“Oh, by the way, don’t go in the girls’ cabin!” Jaclyn called out as he walked toward the tree. He spun around to ask why, but saw he wasn’t going to get anything else out of us.You know what he does? Yep! You guessed it! Went straight for the girls’ cabin.We all ran as far away as we could , but close enough to get a good view. When he opened the screen, hundreds of flies shot out, straight into him.  
Okay, maybe not hundreds, but Josh and Anthony filled that can to the brim with maggots, and there were sure more flies then I have ever seen in my life.  
After they flew past Mr. Lenord, who was screaming and dancing around, they headed straight for sugar coated Alyssa.  
At this point, I don’t think any of us could breath at this point, when we tried to laugh, which was becoming extremely painful, all that came out were quiet gasps for air.We watched painfully as Alyssa ran around screaming her head off as a swarm of flies chased her around.

We weren’t the only ones cracking up; everyone started laughing, all except Alyssa, and Mr. Lenord, who was still spitting flies out of his mouth and nose.

“Where did the flies come from?” Jamie asked as he walked over to us, watching all the chaos.

“Remember those maggots Josh and Anthony filled the Pringles can with. They turned to flies overnight, and when Alyssa opened it, they all flew out into our cabin.”

“Wow. That worked out even better then planned.” He said sounding impressed. We stood for a moment and watched, half the guys watching the flies, and the other half admiring our bra tree. More staff came running out, wondering what was going on. When they saw our tree, a few frowned, a few smiled and some actually started laughing.

“Well, I wonder who could have done this…” a voice said behind us.

I spun around to see Amanda standing next to us admiring our piece of art. She looked at me and gave me a wink. “So that’s what you were doing when you had me make that announcement.” I gave her a look of pure innocence and she just laughed. “Don’t even try to act all innocent, I’ve read your school record.” she said clearing her throat. “Twenty-seven detentions and it’s only February third.”

“Hey, it wasn’t my idea; it was all Allison’s. Besides, that last one doesn’t really count as a full one. More like twenty-six and a half. And most of them were chained; I’ve only done five or six things. They like to give them to me weeks at a time.” She raised her eyebrows at this, clearly surprised at this bit of information. About the part with Al doing this, not the detention part.

“We all had a small part in it though. We had little jobs.” I said, somewhat proudly. She swats at a couple flies buzzing around us.

“There are too many flies around here.” She said as she continued brushing her hand in the air. The four of us exchange glances and quietly giggle.  
A couple minutes later, out comes a ladder and Mr. Stinky begins to climb it and take them down. Darn.  
But our fun wasn’t over yet; Mr. Stinky wasn’t exactly being as smart as he looks, he was just plucking them off and dropping them on the ground at first.  
Some of them actually broke. Their owners weren’t exactly thrilled when they were returned to them in a couple pieces.  
We, on the other hand, thought it was hilarious.

“I’ll be right back.” I say to them as I walk over to Amanda, who was standing beneath our bra tree gazing up at one of the teachers as he continued to pull them down.She grins at me as I stand beside her.

“So… did you work things out with Allison?” she asks me, her eyes twinkling beneath her black rimmed glasses. Her long blond hair blowing into her face as she turns her head towards me.

“Yeah. We did.” I say trying to avoid the awkwardness of eye contact.

“And?” she asked. I look up at her and smile. She must have gotten the message, because she pulled me into one of her big hugs. I don’t mind though. I like them. There’re so warm and comforting. I feel like I could just stay there forever.

“I’m still having nightmares though.” I say pulling myself away. “This one was different though.”

“Oh. How so?”

“I was at Alyssa’s funeral, except no one could see me. My mom was there and she was crying. She got up and I followed her as she walked around the cemetery over to my dad and brother. They were staring at a tombstone. I tried to comfort them, but my hand went right through them. I then looked at what they were looking at. It was a grave… for me.”

She doesn’t say anything for a moment; she just stands there and thinks. I lean up against the tree and wait for her to say something.

“What do you think that means?” she asks me as she stares at me. No she doesn’t stare at me, she stares into me. Her and Al, they seem to be the only people I know who could give me that feeling. It’s really creepy.

“I don’t know, is it supposed to have a meaning?” I ask, knowing what the answer is going to be.

“Yes. Try to think; were people sad at Alyssa’s funeral?”

“Well yeah, the people who liked her.”

“See and your family were sad when you were gone.”

“So… the point of it was to show me that people would be sad if I and Alyssa died?”

“Exactly.”

“So what do I do?”

“I don’t know. Pray about it.”Pray about it. That’s all she told me before she walked away and left.  
Why can’t people be a little more specific? That would be a little helpful. But no, all I get is a pray about it. So thanks, thanks a whole lot.

I tear my eyes away from our masterpiece and figure I better pack before my mom comes to pick me and Al up. Which is only in an hour by the way.  
Okay I need to figure out how to hide the evidence, my mom would freak if she saw this. She’s not exactly oblivious like Jaclyn is, once she opened those bags she’d know. Maybe I can just throw them in the lake. No, then they’d smell like fish, but at least that would be a little better. And if my mom asked, I could say it was some prank, just like the bra tree. Someone threw my clothes in the lake.  
No, that wouldn’t work. Then my mom would wonder why all my bras aren’t up there with the rest.  
This is harder than I thought. I guess I’ll just have to wash and wring them in the sink or something. I definitely can’t leave them as is. That would be a cheery conversation when my mom found them.

I walk in to find Al already packed and ready to go. Sometimes I wish I could be as organized as she is…sometimes.  
I look over near my bed and see most of my clothes strewn about all over the place, just how I left them. I sigh and run around trying to collect everything in my arms, and then dump them in my bag. Funny how everything fits perfectly when you go somewhere, then when you leave, it takes an hour to fit everything back in AND get it to zip back up.Yes, this was one of those moments.

“Need some help?” Al asks as she watches me ready to pounce on it.

“Yeah, thanks. Any ideas about what I can do with…that.” I say nodding toward the trash bag on the floor.

“Umm…sink? And pray it dries in the next…2 minutes.” She says looking at her duck watch.

“Looks like I don’t really have a choice.” I say as I pick up the bag and head over to the bathroom. I grab a wash cloth and scrub it down best I could with their foam soap stuff. It took like ten minutes until I was somewhat satisfied.  
Okay…so maybe five minutes of it was playing with the soap… but c’mon, it was that fun foam stuff. Who doesn’t want to play in it?”  
When we went back outside with our stuff, waving away the occasional fly, my mom was standing outside admiring our work.

“What in the world happened here?” she asks, pointing up as they continued to get the last few bras off the tree branches.

“You should have seen it before, there were at least 40 bras up here!” one guy called back down at my mom as he inched his way to the upper branches.

“Nice, huh?” Jaclyn said standing besides us, grinning from ear to ear.

“Hold on.” I say as I run around to the other side to where Mr. Stinkly stood talking to another teacher. I stand impatiently and wait until he’s done until I corner him by himself.

“Uhh…Hi. I have a weird request of you.” I say when he finally notices me there. He kind of rolls his eyes, telling me to get on with it. I swallow the lump in my throat and ask, “Do you have a tattoo?”

He cocks his head and raises an eye brow, staring at me strangely. “Why would you think I have a tattoo?” he asks, after he finishes gawking at me. Please man, close your mouth.

“Umm…long story, can you just show me your arm?” I ask, stunned at myself for actually letting this bother me enough to ask, while holding my breath.

“Katie, I have to-“he begins, but I cut him off before he has a chance to escape, or open his mouth again.

“Please,” I beg, “Just do it.” He sighs and rolls up his sleeve. “No, the other one.” I say, pointing to his left arm.

“If you insist.” He mumbles and rolls up his other sleeve to show me his tattoo less arm, which was pretty white for someone so tan. “See, no tattoo.” He says as he quickly rolls his sleeves back down.I breathe a sigh of relief, as I quickly thank him and run off, leaving him standing there shaking his head at me in confusion. Oh well, at least I now know it’s not him, If it’s anybody.


	10. Chapter 10

When I came back, no one really paid any attention to my absence, everyone was still too preoccupied staring admiringly (and some not so admiringly) up at out work. I was tempted to tell my mom we did it, but I don’t think she’d believe us even if we told her. I don’t know if she thinks we’re capable of something like this. Except for Jaclyn anyway. My mom’s caught her doing some crazy stuff at our house.

Poor Alex will never fall asleep on the couch again. At least unless he wants another makeover. Although I do think he looked kind of nice with a little eyeliner and lipstick. How he slept through all that, and the laughter coming from us as we watched, I shall never know.

“Did you get yours down?” my mom asked me as we pilled into the car.

“Huh?” I ask, snapping out of my trance.

“Your bras, did you get them down?” she asked again. “There’re expensive. Did you make sure you have all of them?”

“Oh, they didn’t hang ours up.” I say as I glance out the window at Alyssa, who still had the occasional fly buzzing around her.

“Your biology teacher said all the girls had theirs strung up.”

“Nope, not us.” I say again.

“You and Allison didn’t get involved?” she asked doubtfully.

“Or Jaclyn. We were involved, but our clothes didn’t get stuck up there.” I say as I try to control my giggles. I was doing a better job than Al though.

“What’s so funny back there?” she asked, looking at us through her rear view mirror.

“Nothing.” I say.

“Then why is Allison laughing?”

“Oh c’mon. You should know Allison by now. If you say the word ‘pudding’ she’ll start laughing.” Which, wasn’t actually lying. We sat there and watched as my moms eyes grew big and her mouth dropped open.

“You three did… that?!” she says in disbelief, her hand outstretched toward the tree. Al and I just sit there and smile innocently back at her. We could tell there was a battle going on in her head. She didn’t know whether to yell at us or laugh.“But, you couldn’t have done that, could you?” she repeats.

“We had our part.” I say, giving in to the desire of admitting our part in the crime. We watch as it begins to sink in and she laughs.  
Phew.

“I take it this was Jaclyn’s idea.” She says.

“Nope.” I say as me and Al begins to laugh quietly in the back seat.

“It wasn’t YOU was it?” she says instantly regretting she asked.

"No, don’t worry. You’ll never guess who.” I say as I watch Al turn a deep reddish color.

“I can’t think of anyone else. Was it that boy you’re always hanging around with?”

“Umm…no, although he helped.” I say, sort of feeling angry at hearing Jamie referred to as “that boy”. She knows his name.

“There’s no one else I can think of.” She says not even bothering asking if Al did it.

“C’mon, she’s sitting here with us in the car.” I say as Al turns a deeper shade of red. My mom’s probably thinking at this point if she accidentally picked up an extra passenger.

“Allison! You thought of this?” she asked not believing it could be true.

“Yep!” Allison says proudly through her completely red face. My mom just shakes her head and mutters about me and Jaclyn rubbing off on her, which only causes me and Al to laugh harder. When we settle down my mom starts talking about how she never likes going down to the lake on account of all the bugs.

“I mean, didn’t you see all the flies buzzing around?” she asks us, which only cracks me and Allison up harder. “Well I’m glad you two seemed to work things out between you. I was afraid you two were fighting when I dropped you guys off. You two were awfully quiet.” The two of us exchange glances, and I give her the keep-your-mouth-shut-or-you’re-dead-look. I totally forgot about that, that was the morning Allison discovered (to my horror, and her amusement…eventually) my little problem. What’s worse is now the nightmares are equally becoming as horrifying as the side affects. I still don’t understand what’s going on. I now believe without a doubt this isn’t normal, I mean, who has continuation dreams that last 3 weeks long? Not too many people I know. And what was the whole deal with Amanda seeing what I’ve been dreaming? That was really creepy. And of course, the most important question of the day, WHY AM I WETTING THE BED?!?!?!?

The first thing I do when we get home is run straight for the shower. Sure, there were showers there and all. But they also didn’t have any doors. I don’t care how gross I feel, there is NO WAY I’m showering in front of ANYBODY! Besides, there’s no hot water there.

Like always, my mind begins to spin as soon as I turn on the water. Maybe I’m having nightmares because I’m stressed? Failing math is kind of stressful. Or maybe I’m not stressed at all. Maybe I’m too bored, and this is my body’s way of letting me know I need more excitement in my life. No, I’d think last night would have been enough excitement to last me a while. Or a week anyway.

I take a deep breath as I try to focus on something else. I try to concentrate purely on the feel of the warm water hitting my body, and how good it feels, blocking out everything else. I look up and watch as all the steam escapes the shower and wanders into the rest of the bathroom, fogging up the mirror.  
“Go to the bathroom before bed.” flashes through my mind, as clearly as if it was spoken. The same unrecognizable voice. The voice, being neither male nor female. Just a plain flat voice.

I try to shake it out of my head and turn around so the water crashes onto my face. I picture it washing away my thoughts, washing away what’s been going on in my head. I take some more deep breaths. I hear banging on the bathroom door.

“Hurry up! You’re going to use all the hot water!” Al yells at me through the door.

I don’t want to get out though. I don’t want to go out face the world. I just want to stay in here, letting the water drown all of my troubles. And not having to deal with anything, just stay in here by myself. But Al was right, I could feel the water getting colder, I was taking up all the hot water. I take a last deep breath and turn off all the knobs. Then feel around outside the curtain for a towel until my hand touches something fluffy. I throw it over my head, focusing on its softness on my face. Focusing on anything besides what’s happening. I repeatedly drag it up and down over my hair, attempting to dry it, wondering how badly it’s going to tangle because of this.

I have a hair dryer, but I don’t ever use it. I don’t even own a hair straightener, curler or anything like that. I just towel dry it and let it be, until my mom gets on my case about brushing it, only to get her to stop bugging me. I mean yeah, I brush it in the morning and whatnot, my hair sticks out everywhere in the morning. But I don’t rush to the bathroom after every class to fix those couple stray strands of hair that are out of place. I really couldn’t care less about them. Hair isn’t my thing. Or really anything girly. I don’t wear make-up, or carry a purse; I mean c’mon that’s why we have backpacks. Who needs a purse? It’s just another annoying thing to carry around all day.

Jaclyn thinks I’m weird because of that, but that’s coming from someone who carries a new one once a week. She has like fifty of them in her closet, all in perfect condition. When I ask her why she has so many, she just shrugs her shoulders and says that she found something better. All I can say, it’s a good thing she isn’t into brand names. I love Jaclyn though, she can be sarcastic sometimes, err…okay most of the time. But she’s still a good friend. Sometimes it seems like we could never be more different, but we always seem to be laughing at the same thing. She knows how to get me to laugh about my insecurities, but she knows where not to go. She, thankfully, knows when to stop. She may seem shallow at times, but I know somewhere, deep, deeeep down inside, there’s a part of her that has emotions besides sarcasm, if that’s even an emotion. I know she has them, but she just hides them.

Jaclyn just says it’s because she lives with four guys. Three brothers and her dad (her mom died when she was little) so emotions aren’t really a thing in her house. Or as she sometimes puts it, a Hallmark store. But the rest of us just call it a heart. She has this weird thing about referring emotions with Hallmark. She says it’s because she went in ther once to get a birthday card, and she found everything under the sun for every possible emotion. Everything except a birthday card, they ran out.

Then there’s Allison, we just call her Al for short. We’re too lazy to say the extra two syllables. Jaclyn sometimes refers to her as the Hallmark manager. It’s just because Al seems to be the only one actually capable of controlling them. She’s not afraid to get all mushy and sentimental on us, but I like her that way. I’m sure Jaclyn does too, she just pretends not to.

Allison lives with her mom; she’s an only child, so it’s just her and her mom. She says she never met her dad; he apparently walked out just after Al was born. I feel bad for her, but she says she doesn’t mind too much. She likes it just being her and her mom. If you look at her and how she acts, you’d never know she was an only child. Most people I know who are an only child are usually snotty and selfish. But that’s like the opposite of Allison.  
She’s always thinking of other people, ignoring her own feelings to help others. It’s one of the things I love about her.  
She also has this weird thing, she’s more in touch with my emotions then I am. She can put her finger on it; explain exactly how I’m feeling when I can’t make heads or tails about it. It’s a wonder why she doesn’t take psychology classes.

I get dressed and make a feeble attempt to comb out my hair. The comb painfully stopping from a knot positioned on the back of my head. After a few painful moments of this I give up and just wait until my mom jumps on me about it.

I hear Allison's cell phone ring a couple times

“Hello?” I hear on the other side of the door. “Hello?” Allison says again. “Who is this?” I hear her snap her phone shut and then moan in frustration.  
What was that about?

I open the door and let all the steam escape, a blast of cold air meeting my face.

“Who was that?” I ask as I throw my wet tell in the corner of the bathroom. She shrugs her shoulders and says, “Wrong number I guess.” I see her fidget uncomfortably, and tap her fingers on the desk in the corner that she stood next to.

“What?” I ask noticing she begins to move.

“What?” she asks me, realizing what she was doing.

“You’re fidgeting, you never fidget, what’s up?”

“Oh sorry. It’s nothing.” She says as she fails to meet my eyes. I know instantly that she’s lying, but I don’t pursue it. If she wants to tell me, she’ll tell me. Okay, I want to know.

“No it wasn’t.” I say, pursuing the matter.

“Yes, it was.” She says glaring at me. Whoa…settle down.

She slumps into my computer chair and browses on-line as we discuss the events of this morning and last night.

“I got to say, I love her nickname, Lord of the Flies seems to suit her so well.” I say as I lay back on my bed, that of which Allison will not go near.

“Yeah, did you see her face when all the flies shot out of that can?” She said as she browsed through her friends Myspace profiles.

“I wasn’t expecting that either. I can’t believe that worked out so perfectly. It really was a good trip. Minus the whole it-was-the-most-embarrassing-thing-I-ever-had-to-endure part. I could have done without that.” I say as I grab a magazine off my nightstand and start flipping through it, looking for something the least bit remotely interesting to me. I don’t even know why I get these. I’m neither interested in fashion nor make up, and that just about covers everything in these things. I think my mom has hopes that if I read these, there’s the slightest possibility I’ll learn something a teenage girl my age is supposed to know, or care about. Being that I don’t care about what I should be getting my non-existent boyfriend for Valentines Day, or how some celebrity got dumped. I find them of no value to me.

I toss it aside and get up to see what Allison’s laughing at over on the computer. I look over to see pictures on Jamie’s Myspace from our little adventure, taken from a camera phone. She browses around the pages as I soon realize Jamie’s page isn’t the only one with pictures of our night.

There’s a nice shot of our bra tree, one of Alyssa gagging after running out of the cabin, and a really good one of our Biology teacher getting pelted by flies as he opened the girls cabin door. There’s apparently a bunch more pictures, some good, some making me want to kill the photographer. Like for instance me, getting the blankets pulled off. But I’m not the only one though, there’s also one Alyssa after she jumped out of bed without realizing her morning surprise, and she also has a head full of shaving cream. I printed that one.

“What was your nightmare?” Al asks me after we log off and crash out on the floor.

“Huh?” I ask sitting up to look at her.

“You had a nightmare last night. What was it about?” she asks looking up at the ceiling.

“Oh,” I say thinking back to what happened at the cemetery.

I tell her about Alyssa’s funeral, and how my mom was there and how I followed her to my tombstone. Allison doesn’t say anything at first, she just lays there and watches the dusty, black ceiling fan spin around a few times, spewing invisible dust in the air. She always seems to be so lost in thought whenever I tell her about it. I can tell by the expression on her face that she really wants to figure this out. I do too, I really do. It’s just confusing. It’s almost more confusing then Algebra…almost. Now that’s something I will NEVER understand. Maybe one day I’ll understand the meaning of these nightmares, but Algebra will never have a purpose in my life.

I suddenly get a thought that has never occurred to me before. Could these be premonitions? A warning about what’s to come? Is that actually possible?  
My mind begins the swarm with a whole new view of the situation. Is Allison really in danger?Are people’s lives really at stake here? My mind jumps from one horrifying thought to another.Has God entrusted me with the lives of two teenage girls and my own? If so…we’re doomed.

“Want to get something to eat?” I ask, trying to distract my mind from frightening myself any further. Al snaps out of her trance and looks up.

“Sure.” She says as she hops up off the floor, gladly welcoming a distraction herself. We walk downstairs and I freeze. My heart pounding as I see what has been placed onto the table.“What’s wrong?” Al asks me and I stop abruptly in front of her.

“Waffles.” I mutter under my breath to her.

“Oh, yay, I love waffles. What’s wrong, do you not like them?” she asks slightly bewildered by my facial expression as she looks back from them to me, trying to find a missing piece somewhere. It’s not that I don’t like waffles, I love waffles. But that’s the problem. My mom only makes waffles when she has something bad she needs to tell me. Last time she made these, Alex ran over my cat with his car. He swears it was an accident; that quote unquote “the stupid thing was sleeping behind his tire.”

“Oh good, you’re here.” She says to me as she places another plate on the table. I eye her suspiciously, trying to figure out what’s happened. She notices this and smiles innocently back at me.“I made breakfast,” she says.

“Yes…I can see that.” I say, not moving my eyes off her.

“Oh, just sit down.” She says to me. I look over to see Allison’s already done just that. I sigh and do as she says, keeping my guard up. I know as soon as I finish the last bite, out spills the bad news. I eat as slow as I can, chewing slowly and pausing longer between bites. After I can’t possibly drag it out any longer, and all the plates have been cleared my mother clears her throat. I prepare myself, willing myself for whatever she throws at me.

“So, Katie.” She begins, trying (poorly I might add) to sound casual. “While you were gone-“

I cross my fingers under the table and chant inside my head you didn’t look under my bed; you didn’t look under my bed. Please, please don’t tell me you looked under my bed.

“I met with Mr.Brockson, your math teacher. We’ve set up a plan to help with your math scores.” I take a deep breath as the nervous jitteriness slowly works its way out of my body and the color returns to my face. That was close.“You’re going to be attending after school tutoring sessions with him.” She continues. Oh great, like that’s any better. “Until your math grade improves.” She finishes, waiting for me to respond. I quietly moan to myself. Leave it to my mom to do something like this. Terrific.

“So, when does this…experience start?” I ask, dreading the answer.

“Wednesday. He has to leave directly after school ends tomorrow.” She says somewhat startled that I’m not putting up a fight. And usually I would, I would fight it with every being of my body, but I haven’t really been in a fighting mood. I guess I’m a little stressed from all that’s been going on lately.  
My mom, who’s quite curious why I’m not fighting the matter, asks me what’s wrong. I just shake my head. But before I can stop her Allison blurts it out.

“She’s been having nightmares.” she says to my mom. I shoot her the evil eye from between my arms.

“Oh?” she asks quite interested in this little piece of information. “Is this true?” I shrug my shoulders. “Why didn’t say anything before?” she asks.

I shrug my shoulders again and respond with a, “It’s no big deal.” She looks at me for a moment, then forgets about it and carries on with whatever she was doing before.

Me and Al head back up to my room, where I’m soon given the third degree.

“Why didn’t you tell your mom about this?” she asks.

“Because I didn’t, and don’t, want to.” I say crashing onto my bed.

“Why not?” she asks.

“Why would I? The less she knows, the better.” I say, pointlessly picking up another magazine. I look over to see here staring hard at me. I sigh and sit up. “Look.” I say “It’s just something I don’t really want to involve my mom with. She wouldn’t really understand.”

“Why, she seemed concerned enough.”

“She’s just going to give me another one of her tiring speeches about hormones.” I love my mom, I really do, but hormones aren’t the cause of every problem. I could come home with a broken foot, and she’d seriously find some way to bring hormones in with the conversation. That’s my mom for you.

A familiar tune fills the air and I turn to find the source, which seems to be coming from Al’s pocket. Allison quickly snatches up her cell phone and answers it, almost like she was expecting someone to call. I watch as the color slowly drains from her face. Who is she talking to?

“Who is this?” she demands. “Hello?” She snaps the phone closed in frustration and thrusts it back into her pocket. She waves her hands over her face and through her hair, as she falls down on my bed. Okay, I know something’s up, especially if she’s too distracted to be willing to come near my bed, let alone LAY on it.

“What’s wrong?” I ask hanging my head over her. She looks at me through her fingers and mutters something under her breath. “Huh?” I ask, unable to understand a word she just said.

“Nothing.” She says. “Wrong number.”

I want to scream “Liar!” but I don’t. Instead I just furrow my eyebrows at her, wishing she’d tell me what’s going on. But she doesn’t. She just looks the other way, then gets up and heads over to the computer. I can only shake my head and wonder what that was all about. The rest of the day goes on normal enough, no more mysterious phone calls anyway.

It’s soon almost 11 PM and my mom comes in and tells us to go to bed, that just because Al is over doesn’t change the fact that it’s still a school night. Then she teases me and tells me to have “sweet dreams” I roll my eyes and climb into bed after throwing some more towels over the mattress and under the sheets. I might as well just sleep on them now, it’s becoming too persistent not to. And I don’t think my mom will appreciate me turning another couple sets of sheets a different color.

“Night.” I mutter to Al.

“Night, keep it dry up there.” She says giggling.

“Ha Ha.” I say pulling the covers up over my head. I turn on my back and face the ceiling. “Why am I having these nightmares?” I whisper as I roll back over to my side. I begin to feel drowsy; I close my eyes and wait for it to end.


	11. Chapter 11

I look around; there are a couple beat up old cars to my right. Old worn out asphalt coats what appears to be a small parking lot. In front of me I see a few doors. About six of them, I look above them to see a second story which contains six more doors, identical to the ones below it. All painted a bland brown color; the color reminds me of dried blood. Something is urging me onward; I look to my left to see a giant Motel 6 sign.

My guts’ urging me to walk up to the doors, so I do. I walk slowly down the corridor of the first set of doors. But something tells me it’s not what I’m looking for, if I’m even looking for something. I feel a strange sensation in my stomach, like nervous butterflies fluttering around, pressing me to go up the stairs. The feeling growing stronger as I walk up each step, my breath coming in short and raspy. My hands begin to feel clammy as I get closer to the top. But I’m not scared, more like a nervous excitement. I feel like I’m getting a big break; a breakthrough, a possible clue.

The feeling growing stronger with each step, I walk past the first door, but something tells me it’s not it. I continue down to the next, but once again my gut tells me to keep going. I continue down to the third, the feeling intensifying by three. I continue, slowly pacing down, but the farther away from the third door I get, the looser the knot in my stomach becomes. I turn around and go back to the third door.  
I look up at the motel’s doors number, the number 27 staring down back at me. I feel a sudden urge to knock. My hand forms a fist and lightly taps on the door.  
Nothing. I rap harder. Still nothing. I begin to bang on the door with my fist, the door opens, but no one appears to be there.  
I look in, but it’s completely dark and smells like its occupant hasn’t bathed or changed clothes in…weeks. My feet propel me inside, the knot in my stomach growing tighter with every step I take. I inch my way forward inside.

I walk into the center of the room, and the door slams closed with a bang. Drowning the room in complete darkness, I swirl around, trying to see who closed the door. But it’s useless; I can’t even see my hand in front of my face.

I try to attempt to control the sound of my breathing, waiting until even deep breaths escape my mouth before pressing onward. I inch further into the room, feeling around for a light switch. My hand feels a dimmer; I turn it up, but not all the way, filling the room with an eerie orange glow. I look behind me to see who closed the door, but there’s no one behind me. I look forward where I see a news bulletin board. I walk up to it, my heart pounding as I get closer. I look at the articles pinned onto it. The first reads: Fast growing Bible Community at Camarillo High I stare at it, and notice a picture of Allison next to it, revealing the fact that she’s the president. Weird.

Why would someone have that pinned up? I look toward the next article, another one about Allison. What’s going on? I stand back and look over all of them…all of them about Allison.I step back in shock, what’s happening? Whose are these? Why are all of these about Allison? I stumble back into a door, it opens and I fall into the room. I look around and notice it’s a dark room. There are pans sitting on a table with some kinds of liquid in them. I look at a close line stretching across the length of the room. Close pins every few inches apart from each other, each holding up a developed picture. I walk towards them. The first one is of Allison.

She’s standing by her locker, pulling a book out. Chills run down my back and I rip my eyes away and stare at the second one. Again it’s of Allison. This time she’s sitting at a picnic bench reading a book. I look at them all at once…there all of her, doing random stuff, at school, and walking home. There are a couple of all of us hanging out, but other than that, it’s just her. There must have been at least 30 photos.

A small whimper escapes my mouth. What’s happening?! I turn around to run out, but am stopped by a man, the man from my dreams. He smiles, the same smile before he kills. He comes up to me and leans in, and whispers into my ear, “You should have minded your own business.” 

I scream at the top of my lungs, hoping to gain someone’s attention to this room. I feel a sharp pain in my stomach, and look down to see a knife thrust into it. I try to scream some more, but that all that comes out is inaudible whimpers and gasps for air. I try again and succeed. All I end up doing is waking me up from my own screams.

“Go to the bathroom before bed!” says the same voice I’ve heard every night for the past two weeks. The voice I’ve grown to hate.

Al is standing over me, and so is my mom. Both nervously looking at me, not sure what to do.

My breath is coming in short painful gasps. My body is hot and sticky from sweat. I realize I’m in my room, that it was just a nightmare, but that’s not all I know. I also know Al is in danger, and that she’s being stalked.

I try to take deep breaths, to try and stop my body from shaking so much

“Katie?” my mom begins, but then stops.

“What did you dream about?” Al asks me, noticing how she’s as pale well…me.

“You.” I say, still shaking a bit.

“You were screaming my name.” she says biting her bottom lip. “You were freaking out and screaming, so that’s when I got your mom.” I nod and look up at the clock; it’s five in the morning.

“Katie” my mom says again. “What’s been going on? Why haven’t you told me about this?” I shrug my shoulders and look down. She sighs and joins me on the bed, which causes me to yank the covers towards me.

“Allison told me about your nightmares. And I saw you thrashing around and screaming when I came in here, a little bit before you woke up.”

“How long were you in here for?” I ask, feeling like a freak on display in my own room.

“Long enough to know this isn’t normal.” She says staring down on me with concern. I nod again, knowing I need to talk to Allison; I don’t have time for this.

“I need to talk to Al for a minute.” I say continuing to stare at the floor. She doesn’t move for a moment, just continues to stare at me. She finally gets up, kisses the top of my head then leaves. Al gets up and closes the door. Thank God.

I rummage around in one of my drawers, pull out some fresh clothes, get up and head to the bathroom. But Al stops me.

“Katie.” She whispers, barley audible.

“What?” I snap, thinking she’s referring to my pants. “It’s nothing you haven’t seen before.” She shakes her head and points a little bit above, at my stomach. I look down at my shirt and gasp. My white shirt now has a fresh red stain in it; I begin to notice a painful stinging coming from my stomach. I look back up at her. She’s paler than I’ve ever seen her. I hesitate a moment, then pull up my shirt for the two of us to see, revealing a fresh gash across it.

Neither of us say anything, we just gasp. I can’t believe it…That’s right where I got stabbed in my dream.We go in the bathroom and wash it off, revealing it was only a small cut, not very deep, just long. I stick band aids across it then walk back over to my bed, looking for the culprit. Al lets me handle the bed search by myself. I look it over several times, but I can’t find anything. Al comes over and gives it a quick glance.

“What’s that?” she asks pointing at something shiny sticking out of one of the towels. I grab it and pull it out. A safety pin, needle side up.

“I must have rolled onto it in my sleep.” I say as the both of us breathe a sigh of relief.

A cold chill sweeps through the room, I look over to see my window open.“Did you open the window?” I ask, noticing how cold it was.

“I thought you opened it, it was open when I woke up.” She says.

“I never open it…” I say as I go to close it. Something on the window sill catches my eye. It’s an envelope. Addressed to…me. I open the window back up and pull it inside.

“What’s that?” Al asks coming closer. I shake my head at read the scribble on the front. Written in read runny ink…almost like…blood. Doesn’t look like any ink I’ve ever seen. And it’s still wet. This is the second story, how did it get up here? Did someone climb up to the roof and stick it up here?  
I open the envelope to find a folded piece of paper, folded into four squares. I unfold it and gasp. Written in the same red liquid are the words:

I know you’re having nightmares about me!  
Stay out of my way!  
Or else I will turn your LIFE into a nightmare!

I gasp, what’s going on? How does he know I’m having nightmares about him?! Who put this outside my window? Was it him? The man from my dream like he says it is? I drop the note onto the floor and start shaking and sobbing uncontrollably. Allison looks from me then to the note on the floor. She picks it up and reads it, a loud gasp escaping from her lips.

“I’m getting your mom.” She says getting up.

“No wait. I have to tell you something!” I take a deep breath and wonder where to start. “Someone is stalking you. The man who wrote this note is the same man in my nightmares, the one that kills you.” I take another deep breath, trying to keep emotion from showing in my voice, but I’m not doing a very good job of it. “He lives in a motel; there are pictures, lots of pictures, at least 30…of you.”

“What...?” she asks her voice beginning to tremble. She jumps up and a second later reappears with my mom. She looks at me, then at my pajama bottoms, which I was stupid enough not to immediately change, and gives me another concerned look.

“I can explain.” I say, trying to cover myself with a pillow.

“What’s happened to you?” she whispers. But I realize she wasn’t looking at my pants at all, but at my stomach, where all the blood is on my shirt.

“Oh, that. I rolled onto a safety pin in my sleep.” I say, still hiding behind a pillow.

Her eye brows furrow at me and she replies with, “Katie…did you..? She asks slowly after looking from me to my bed, then back at me, motioning with her hand to what I was trying to hide behind the pillow. I hang my head in despair as she walks up and takes the pillow away. I keep my head down as I grab the clothes I had sitting on the bed that I was going to change into and run into the bathroom. Maybe I’ll just stay in here. For an hour or two, or maybe ten. After five minutes I hear a knock at the door, but I don’t answer it. I just pretend not to exist. Maybe they’ll just go away.

I can hear the two of them talking; Al’s probably catching my mom up to speed with the whole thing. I look down and realize I still have the note in my hand. I study it for a few minutes, wondering what was used to write it, it’s too big to be a pen, it’s definitely handwritten. Chills go up my back. Okay it can’t be LITERALY handwritten. The most disturbing image goes through my mind. I see a hand, the other poking one of its fingers with a needle just enough to get it to bleed a little, then using it as a pen.

I try to shake the idea out of my head; it’s probably just a red marker. If you get it wet it will run like that.

I change and wait, not quite ready to go back out yet. I can still hear them talking to each other. A couple minutes later someone knocks on the door again.

“Katie, come out.” My mom pleads. “Allison told me what’s been going on.”I don’t say anything; I just stand there still sort of shaking from everything, staring at the door. I can’t stay in here forever so I finally decide to come out. I open the door a crack, and see my mom standing by the door; her back turned looking towards Allison. I take a deep breath, muster the last bit of courage I have, and walk out, note in tow. “Katie.” My mom says when she realizes I’ve come out. I don’t say anything, I just hand her the note. She pauses a moment, trying to read my expression, then takes the note from me.  
I watch as I see her face go white, then red, then an almost green color, then back to white. She looks up from the note to me, her eyes slightly watering.

I guess we shouldn’t have dumped this on her all at once. I notice her hands are slightly shaking. She just shakes her head and sits down at the computer chair. The room becomes quiet, an eerie kind of quiet.

“Katie, what did you dream about tonight?” she asked, sounding dead serious. So I told her about being at a Motel 6, going in one of the rooms and seeing all this stuff devoted to Allison, then about him catching me and telling me I should have minded my own business, then getting stabbed in the stomach.

She looks at my nightshirt again, blood streaking across it. Coincidence? I think not.

This is so not how I wanted my sophomore year of high school to turn out.


	12. Chapter 12

By the time the sun slowly rises. we are already up and dressed, none of us could go back to sleep after last night. Except my mom anyway.  
Do you want to know how much a help she is? She thinks this is all a prank, revenge for the whole bra tree thing she says. I’m not joking.  
Last night after we calmed ourselves down, she announces it has to be a prank. That there’s no one after us, and that we are all completely safe. If only that were true. She says it’s because when Alyssa read my journal out, she announced to everyone I was having nightmares. Someone must have put together that morning with the tree incident and linked me to the tree. It's revenge for freezing their bras and hanging them out for the boys to see.  
Thanks mom, thanks a whole lot!

Why can’t I be normal? Why can’t I be bothered by normal teenage girl stuff? Like for instance my hair, or if so-and-so likes me?

No. Not me, I have to worry about whether or not me and my best friend are being stalked by some psychopath. Just peachy.  
So, with my mom blowing the whole thing off as a prank, she sends us off to school. Damn. I was hoping this "being stalked" thing had some perks like, for instance, it’s too dangerous to go to school so I get to stay home. Nope. I have to go to school with the possibility of someone taking pictures of us. Life just can’t get any better than this.

At least Al believes me, being it’s also her life that’s in danger as well as mine. That is unless I mind my own business. But how can I mind my own business at a time like this? My best friend is getting stalked, there is no way I’m going to just sit back and let her get killed. No way. Even if no one else believes me.

Before we left I grabbed all my necessary things, cell phone, house keys, and brass knuckles.  
Yes, I have a pair of brass knuckles. I’ve never actually USED them or anything. I found them at a thrift store, and I thought it would be fun to intimidate guys with them. Who in their right mind would mess with a girl who owns a pair of brass knuckles? Only one being of the physco stalker persuasion that’s who. Okay my mom totally doesn’t know I have them, she’d take them from me faster than I could come up with an excuse as to why I have them in the first place. She would freak.

You should have seen the look I got from the lady working the checker when I bought them. I was like twelve, hair in braids and everything, the perfection reflection of innocence. Coming up to the counter, giving off a cute big smile, then CLUNK! On the counter it goes. She must have stared at me for a full five minutes before she rang it up. She even asked me if I knew what it was.

I just nodded and smiled sweetly at her, waiting patiently for her to finish so I could high-tail it out of there before she changed her mind.  
I’m still in shock, four years later, that she actually sold them to me. That, and the fact that they were illegal, can’t believe they were even selling them there. Especially to a twelve year old.

Oh well, guess they needed the money or something. The important thing is that I have them now so I have some form of protection.  
I realized ,to my dismay, as soon as we got to school, looking over our shoulder for psychotic stalking photographers along the way, that I was going to have to ditch them in my locker. If I got caught with them on school grounds, being that they are considered a weapon, I’d either be suspended or be in detention from now till I graduate, or probably expelled.  
They also say you’re supposed to be suspended for fighting, but all they do with me is moan, tell me “Didn’t we already have this talk” type lecture and give me a week of detention.Being that those options don’t sound all that much appealing to me, I don’t really want to take any chances. I walk down to my locker to stick them in there.

I can never remember the combination, so anyone who knows me well knows what I do. I scratch it into the corners of the locker.  
I look up at the tiny scratched in number in the upper left hand corner, turn the knob to the left, look up at the upper right side, turn the knob to the right. Then finally look at the bottom for the final digit.

Click.

If you looked in there, you’d never know it belonged to a girl. No cases of makeup or hand bags inside. I don’t ever use my locker, being that it is inconveniently located in the middle of nowhere. I haven’t a single class in this area. So my locker serves for more of a personal trashcan than anything.  
I stuff it in the back behind a couple books and stuff, then close it and take off.

Word travels pretty fast in a high school. Not only has everyone heard of the stunt we pulled at the lake, they already have pictures.  
A certain one of them, which I shall not mention, had been taped to the front of my locker. It’s now in many pieces sitting in the bottom of a trash can.  
At least that’s not the only one going around; there are plenty of good ones going around Alyssa. That at least makes me feel a smidge bit better, knowing I’m not the only one suffering here. I’m surprised I’m taking this so well, normally I’d go hunt down the person who did this and break their nose. I guess there are just other things on my mind.

The whole nightmare thing must really be taking a toll on my body, I feel so incredibly tired today. All through my first few subjects I could barely keep my eyes open. So pretty much nothings changed there. I only perked up a bit at lunch, guess who’s sitting with us: Jamie, Josh, and Anthony.  
I actually don’t mind his friends so much. There’re kind of cool…in a geeky sort of way. But look whose talking; I’m queen of the geeks. Oh well, I guess it beats being Lord of the Flies.

Josh is apparently an expert lock picker, brags he can pick any lock in the school.  
Maybe he can pick the lock for the broken down girls bathroom next to my World History class. The stupid things been out of order since I started coming here in the first place. “Renovations” they say. Well hurry it up already; I’m sick of walking a half a mile every time I have to go to the bathroom, only to have to wait half an hour in a mile long line.

I’m seriously about to fall asleep in my cafeteria mush they call food. I’m going to die during P.E. At least it’s only Tuesday, due to the whole biology thing we got Monday off to rest and whatnot, so we don’t have to run. I’d probably fall asleep in the grass if we did.

“Are you okay?” Jamie asks me as Jaclyn and Josh fight over which band rocks the most. Al hasn’t said that much either though; guess we’re both a little out of it today.

“Yeah, I’m okay, just tired.” I say, lifting my head back up and giving him a fake reassuring smile.

“Did anything happen last night?” he asks. Huh? How would he know if anything happened? Is my mom right? Did he put the card there to scare me after I opened up to him at Bio camp as some mean joke? “You just seem so out of it.” He continues “Did you have another nightmare?” Okay sure, I’m suspicious of him, but I can’t help it. There’s this weird little fluttering in my stomach when he asked, and I’m pretty sure my face turned a bright shade of pink. Argh I need to snap out of it, I need to stay focused. But those eyes!  
Those electric blue magnets that pull me into answering his questions. I nod, my eyes still locked onto his.“What was it about?” he asks after a long awkward pause. I was probably going to answer too, but the bell rings.

“Sorry, I got to go.” I say as I jump up, welcoming the excuse. I run over to the gym, okay I wasn’t exactly running, more like forcefully dragging my butt over there. I don’t know if I can make it through the rest of the day.

There is one thing I’ve learned. When playing volleyball, don’t fall asleep. That’s what happened.  
We were playing volleyball for P.E. and I kind of dozed off, and the next thing I know I’ve got a face full of volleyball. Apparently during my little nap, someone spiked the ball, and it smashed right into my face. Now I’ve got a nosebleed.

At first the teachers all, “Walk it off!” until she saw the blood anyway. Then she sent me straight to Amanda’s office. I made a little detour on my way to grab my backpack out of the locker room. I’m tired; maybe she’ll let me go home. When I got there, I could see she was busy with some guy claming to have a “Stomach ache.”

I could tell by the expression on his face he was totally faking it so he could go home early. That or he’s a total wimp. Guys could not last a day with menstrual cramps. He doesn’t know the word of stomach ache. I turn around and think I’ll come back later when she wasn’t busy and all, but she already saw me.

“Katie! Glad you’re here, I’ll be with you in a minute, have a seat.” She calls out from the back room.

I decline the offer of taking a seat. I don’t want to go in with a nosebleed and come out with the stomach flu. Instead I go up to the sink and stare at my reflection in the mirror. There’s blood all over my face, and on my lips. I grab a paper towel wet it down in the sink and hold it up to my nose, attempting to wipe all the blood off. I look down and notice there’s a nice collection of it down the front of my shirt, at least it was just my gym shirt.  
I stare in the mirror, watching behind me as Amanda gives in to the guys’ complaints and sends him home with a note. Probably more so to get rid of him than anything.

She gets up and escorts him out, and as soon as he is out and down into the office, she motions for me to go into the back room, while following suit behind me and closes the door.

“Hello, Katie.” She says as she turns a chair around, sitting in it facing me. She motions for me to sit down on the bed. I hesitate a moment, trying not to think about how many sick kids have sat here before me. But if most are like that one guy, I think I’ll live. I sit down, sitting as far on the edge as I can.

“You don’t look so good, are you feeling okay?” she asks, studying my face.

“I’m just tired, I actually was sent because of my nose. It was bleeding a little, got hit with a volleyball.” I say motioning to the blood that dripped down the front of me.

“Oh,” she says getting up to look a little better. After she finishes poking and prodding it, despite my desperate pleas not to, she gets up and gets me a bag of ice which I gladly accept and hold to my nose.

“Anything else bothering you?” she asks, seeing right through my insistencies that I’m fine. After a few minutes I give in and tell her about the nightmare I had last night, and about how I woke up with my stomach bleeding from the pin. She listens through the whole thing, not saying anything until I finished.

“There’s more isn’t there?” she asks, staring into my eyes.

“It’s real.” I say barley above a whisper. “Something happened last night. Something outside of a dream. Something real that confirms these dreams aren’t well…dreams.” I say as I dig through my backpack and pull out a sandwich bag containing the letter inside the envelope.

I pull out the envelope addressed to me and hand it to her. She thoroughly looks the front over before turning it to the back and opening it up. She takes out the folded over paper and slowly unreels it, revealing the red lettering I’ve memorized by heart. She gives it one read through and looks back up at me.

I begin to start shaking again. She seems a little edgy herself, as she folds the paper back up and sticks it back in the envelope. She puts it back in the bag, handing it back to me as if it burns at the mere sight of it.

“Where did you find this?” she asked, no longer able to hide the trembling in her voice.

“Outside my window.” I say, my voice also raising few octanes. “Right after I woke up. My window was open, and there it was, just sitting there. Still wet and everything.” I start to feel dizzy from exhaustion, and am having a hard time sitting up.

“I want you to go home.” She says after a minute of thought. “Get some sleep. Lock all the doors and windows. I think we are in need of another nightmare.”

Okay normally I’d object, I so did not want to have any more nightmares, it’s driving me straight to the ground. But I heard one word I wanted desperately. Sleep.

So I agree, grab my backpack, a written note from her to get off campus, and in case anything happens like the envelope, her cell phone number to call.  
I thank her and start the endless journey home, my head pounding with each step as I begin to wonder if I’ll be able to make it home. My heart rate picking up more heavier with every movement.

"I’m half way there," I tell myself as I drag my legs forward with each step. Each time I move them, the heavier they feel, my eyelids like tiny weights attached to my face. Three-fourths of the way there. I’m practically panting now, breathing as if I’ve just been running. "Just a little bit farther," I tell myself. My eyes begin to burn. How badly I want to close them. To just lay down in the grass and not get up.

I can see my house, just a little bit further I tell my legs. My feet feel like they must weigh fifty pounds each at least. I’m having an extremely hard time breathing, short painful gasps coming out; everything’s starting to fade out. I stumble around with my house keys trying to fit it into the slot, I can barley make out what I’m doing, all I know is I want to just give up and lay down on the porch. I unlock the door, close and lock it behind me.

I stare up at the stair case; I don’t think I can do it. And I don’t know how I did, but I somehow managed it make it up all 19 steps and into my room where I collapsed onto my bed. The last thing I remember is praying.

“God please, even if it's just tonight. No nightmares.” I plead and close my burning eyes for the rest of the day and all through the night.


	13. Chapter 13

My mom’s shaking me awake; I roll over and open my eyes to see what she wants. And to my surprise it’s already morning.

“How are you feeling?” she asks as I close my eyes again.

“Tired.” I moan back up at her, angry for waking me up.

“You’ve been asleep for last eighteen hours. Yesterday afternoon the school nurse called me and said she sent you home to get some sleep, but I didn’t know you were this tired.” I give another moan up at her and roll over in the opposite direction just wishing she’d just let me go back to sleep.“Do you really want to stay home in bed all day?” she asks disapprovingly. I would like nothing more. I pull the covers over my head as a sign of approval. I hear a deep sigh come from her then something about how she needs to go to work, and then she leaves. Yes!

I unglued myself from bed, trying my best to ignore the dizzy sensation, and wobble over to the bathroom.  
Okay this proves it’s the nightmares fault! If I can sleep for 18 hours straight without wetting the bed, but can’t after 4 hours with a nightmare, this proves it. Sixty seconds later I’m back in bed and covers completely covering my head. Another eighteen hours of this doesn’t sound so bad.

 

I look around the room, there's a black sofa sitting in the corner with a computer in another. A picture of fruit hanging from one of the neutral painted walls. The carpet a deep blue color, judging by its condition, there’s a noticeable no shoe rule. I’m in Allison’s living room.

A loud buzzing noise suddenly fills the room, as I see Allison’s mom coming down the hall to answer the phone. I quickly try to think of an excuse as to why I’m suddenly standing in the middle of her house. I run into the kitchen as to not be seen. I peek out the kitchen door, careful not to be seen. She walks out into the living room and picks up a phone.

“Hello?” she says. I see her face scrunched up in confusion for a few moments. Then turn white. “Who is this?” she demands.  
Okay I’ll admit, I’m curious now. I walk further into the kitchen, unable to stop myself, and pick up the receiver. I mean what if this is the same person calling Al?

I hold it up to my ear and hear a deep male voice say, “You know who this is.” There are a few deep breaths coming from the other side; almost as if she’s been dreading this phone call for a long, long time. Her voice sounds shaky and nervous.

“I thought I told you never to contact us.” There’s silence for a few moments, she seems to be holding her breath.

“It’s been what? At least thirteen years and that’s all you’re going to say to me?” There’s a certain confidence about his voice that gives me the chills. Like he knows exactly what he’s doing, and nobody’s going to stand in his way. I know that voice from somewhere, but I can’t figure out where.

“What do you want, Ryan?” she says angrily and scared at the same time. Ryan? His names Ryan?

“You know what I want.” Ryan says the same eerie confidence in his voice. I can almost picture a sick twisted smile on his face.

“No!” she raises her voice into the receiver. My hands begin to sweat, the phone becoming slippery and wet inside my hands. Who is this? And why do I have this feeling in my stomach that I know him from somewhere?

“It’s my turn.” He says.

“No! You can’t!” she yells and slams the phone down. I peek out and notice she is lying on the couch, her head in her arms. I was about to put the phone back down, but the man speaks again…to me.

“Now, now, Katie. Eavesdropping is so unlike you.” I freeze. How does he know my name? How does he know I’m eavesdropping? I try to swallow, but my mouth has gone completely dry. Is he watching me? “Didn’t we already discuss this? I thought I told you to mind your own business.” I hear a clicking sound then a dial tone, I hang up the phone.  
My palms completely soaked. He’s watching her! He’s watching me! He knows who I am. And worst of all, he is the man from my nightmares!

“Go to the bathroom before bed!”  
Riiiiiiiiiiing.

I’m jolted awake by the sound of the phone ringing. I lay there for a second and let myself breathe. I look up at the clock and it’s nearly 2 in the afternoon. Have I been asleep that long? I try to get up, but I feel so dizzy so I let my head fall back onto my pillow. Why am I so tired? I’m not sick am I? I’ve been sleeping for the last twenty four hours. The phone stops ringing, and I let the answering machine pick it up, but whoever it is doesn’t leave a message.

“Fine with me.” I say to myself as a close my eyes again.

Riiiiiiing.  
I jerk them open again, whoever called is calling again. Argh, I just want to sleep. I try to force myself out of bed, and then notice all the dampness.  
Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why does this keep happening?! I’ve only been asleep for five hours! Nothing happens after having been asleep eighteen hours straight, but no! Fall asleep for a couple hours and wham; I’m lying in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. If I hear that voice telling me to go to the bathroom before bed one more time I’m going to scream! I have been! And I’m still hearing it, and still I’m waking up like this! I’m so sick of this happening!

Riiiiing

Well whoever’s calling is going to have to wait a minute 'till I get dressed. I kneel down and reach under my bed for all the dirty sheets and whatnot and throw them in the laundry hamper. I get dressed and grab the basket and head down to the basement to do some laundry. After making sure there is nothing red, I dump it all in the washer. It was a little easier this time, and when it came out, nothing was pink! It looked about the way it was supposed to. White.

I hurry up and throw it all in the dryer as I hear the phone ring yet again. Seriously people, it’s called an answering machine. That’s what it’s for! To answer the phone! When I found a phone, I had to sit down, I was exhausted again. Those few steps had taken about all the energy out of me, all the energy that was felt anyway.

“Hello.” I say sounding like I just rolled out of bed.

“Katie, I didn’t wake you up did I?” my mom asks on the other end. Of course she did. She has this gift for dropping in or calling when she is least wanted.

“Yeah, but I was going to get up anyway.” I lie as I carry the phone back to my room, causing me to breathe heavily.

“Katie, have you been running?” she asked.

“No, I just walked from my room, to the phone, back to my room.”

“Are you feeling okay?” She asks taking note to the sound of my uneven breathing.

“I’m okay as long as I don’t get up, but when I do I feel like all the energy drains out of me.” I say climbing back onto my now sheet less bed. “I feel like I haven’t slept in a week.”

“You’ve been asleep for the last 24 hours.” She says. “Maybe I should call the doctor.”

“No! I’m fine! I’m just a little tired, I haven’t been sleeping well, from the whole nightmare thing, and it’s probably just catching up to me.”  
I am NOT going to the doctor. I’ve had enough doctors for a while. No matter what I go in for, they either want to draw my blood or give me a shot. To them, needles fix everything.

“Maybe I should make an appointment just in case.” She says. And before I could object she says she has to go and hangs up. I see a big, fat needle with my name on it in my future, and I don’t need a nightmare to tell me so.

I hang up the receiver and pull the covers back over me and let my mind spin a little. Ryan? Ryan what? How is Allison’s mom connected with him?  
Instead of going back to sleep like I had planned to do, I get up and raid the fridge for something caffeinated that Alex has left behind. And voila!  
I spot something with a Starbucks logo on it and quickly snatch it up, plug my nose, and down it as fast as I can. Under any normal conditions for me, after drinking whatever it was I drank, I’d be bouncing off the walls, or I’d at least match Allison’s energy.

Whatever it is that’s wrong with me right now, all it gave me was about a half-hour to be able to keep my eyes open. I used the time to Google the name Ryan, which pretty much got me no where due to 4,750 pages came up and there was no way I was going to sit there and look through all of them.  
Instead I exited out and looked up Motel 6 and found out there wasn’t one too far away. I could probably get there on my bike, if I could actually stand up past thirty-seconds anyway, so that’s not really an option. Plus there’s no way I’m going to go riding around by myself looking for psychopaths, not in my pajamas anyway.  
So right when I’m about to snuggle back up with my blankets, the phone rings, yet again. I was totally expecting it to be my mom saying she set up a doctor’s appointment for me so I could become a human pin cushion. But instead it was Al, wondering why I took off yesterday and why I wasn’t at school today.

“Oh, well yesterday, I had a nose bleed and had to go see Amanda, who sent me home because I was tired.”

“Katie. How many times do I have to tell you?” Al said, sounding sincere.

“Tell me what?” I ask generally curious as she has to remind me of practically everything. What did I forget to do this time?

“Haven’t we had this discussion before?” she says, sighing into the receiver. What did I do? Did I forget to do something? Was I supposed to call her to tell her I was leaving? She’s had to talk to me about everything, how am I supposed to remember a particular discussion involving sick leave?

“Umm…No.” I say, racking the back of my brain for any clue as to what she want be referring to.

“Katie.” She says again. “We all know your secret.” What? What secret? What did I get caught doing this time? Do they think I was faking it or something?

“What?” I ask a slight nervous tone in my voice.

“We all know how you really got that nosebleed.” She says, sounding more threatening by the minute.

“Umm…because I fell asleep during a game of volleyball.” I say, trying to think of what she could possibly be thinking of.

“That’s just what you want us to believe. Wouldn’t you?”

“What are you talking about?” I ask, slightly annoyed. She’s really not making any sense now. I can hear her giggling in the background, oh great what now?

“You wouldn’t have so many nosebleeds if you would just learn to keep your finger out of there.” She finally says, erupting out in a fit of giggles.  
Ha. Ha. That’s Al for you. REAL comedian…

“Very funny.” I say sarcastically, feeling myself nodding off again; my heart rate kicking up.

“What’s up with you any way? I called your house like five times after you wouldn’t answer your cell phone. Every time your mom picked up she said you were still asleep.”  
“  
Oh, Yeah. I think I’m sick again with…something. I’ve been asleep ever since I came home yesterday.”

“Oh, well, don’t give it to me; I have something important I need to do on Friday. I can’t afford to be sick.”

“Who’s Ryan?” I ask, propping myself up onto my elbows, leaning against the headboard.

“Huh? Ryan who? The guy who likes to cheat off me in Geometry? Or the one who compares everything he does with an episode from Star Trek.”

“Umm... neither. Like maybe one your mom knows or something.” I add casually.

“I don’t know. Why?” she asks. Okay there’s no way she’d believe me now if I said I was just curious. People don’t just go around asking if people’s moms know psychopaths named Ryan. Although with the way things have been going lately, I’m not about to pass this off as “weird”. It’s been about the most normal conversation I’ve had lately. “It came from a nightmare didn’t it?” she said after a moment of silence. “You just said you’ve been asleep for the last 24 hours. You had to have dreamed something, so spill.” She really is too smart for her own good.

“Well yeah. Your mom was-“I start but am immediately stopped by Al’s shout of concern.

“She doesn’t die does she?” she blurts out. “You’re not like hacking all my family members off in your sleep are you?”

“Umm... No. Don’t worry; no one dies in this one. They were just talking on the phone.”

“Oh. Did she know him?” she asks as she breaths a sigh of relief.

“Yeah. It was like she dreaded the phone call. Almost like she’s secretly been waiting for it in the back of her mind.”

“Oh,who was the guy?” she asked.

“The same guy who tried to blow our brains out.” I say casually.

“What did he want with my mom?” I pause for a moment to remember, gliding my hand through my hair as I do so. Hmm, I know there was something to do with him wanting something from her, but I never found out what it was. What did Allison’s mom have that he wanted? What would a psychopath want that belongs to a random middle-aged woman?

She’s a FLORIST. What does a FLORIST possibly have? A highly dangerous, destructive…flower? You sneak it into a dozen roses; the unsuspecting target sniffs it, and then drops down dead? I don’t think so.

“He wanted something from her.” I finally say after giving it a moments thought. “I don’t know what though. She knew what is was, but she wouldn’t give it up. She was really mad and scared that he called.”

“I’ll ask her later. I got to go. I’ll call you later.” She said hastily and hung up. Finally! I can go back to sleep! Or so I thought. As soon as I lay my head down; the phone rings yet again. My mother announces she made me a doctor’s appointment for tomorrow. Joy. When I finally get off the phone, relax and close my eyes, ready to forget everything and fall asleep, you guessed it! The phone rang AGAIN! When will you people leave me alone? This time it was Jaclyn, calling to make sure I wasn’t dead or something.

“Why weren’t you in school today?! I had to give that English speech by myself yesterday too after you ditched! No thanks to you.”  
Or not…

“Sorry. I was sent home sick.” I say, slightly annoyed.

“Oh, right, I forgot about that. Al told us all about how you picked your nose to death so you could get out of class. That’s a new one, even for someone who lives with three brothers.” If Al and I survive this whole stalker thing, I swear, I think I just might kill her myself. Jaclyn must have sensed the anger steaming off the phone, since she hastily threw in a, “She was joking of course, she wasn’t serious.”

Well, that about saved Allison from getting chopped up into 27 identical pieces. Lucky her. I might even be nice enough to only sever her into fifteen pieces instead. Anyone care for a little Al a la carte? How about a dash of Eau De Allison? In this case, I shall bring a whole new meaning to the phrase you just got served.


	14. Chapter 14

After a ten minute conversation, which consisted of me drilling into Jaclyn’s skull that the reason I had a nosebleed had nothing to do with the placement of my fingers at the time. She finally she just sighs,”You’re no fun.” and hangs up.

Well sooorrr-rrryyy. I’m not exactly in the mood to be “fun”. Fun time ends when scary threatening letters start arriving on your window sill.  
Nobody is going to call anymore! Want to know why? I did something I should have done a long time ago. I unplugged the phone line. Oh, yeah, smart huh? For the third and final time, I lay, and to my pleasure, nothing happened to interrupt.  
^-^  
Light tan walls stare back at me, as I stand again in a familiar looking room. I’m in Allison’s house again. But I’m not alone this time; her mom is sitting atop the leather couch, a blank expression formed across her face. Her hands wrapped around her face, elbows resting on top her knees, which she nervously bounces up and down. As if she’s waiting for something. Just as I start to wonder what it could be, I can hear keys jingling outside the front door, playing with the lock, then the door opening.

“Hi, mom. I’m home.” Allison calls out from the front room. She walks in, her gaze going right past me, to her mom sitting on the couch.  
She looks up and gives her a weak smile.

“How was school?” she asks, avoiding eye contact with her.

“It was fine…What’s wrong?” Al asks, noticing her mothers’ slightly unusual behavior. Ms. Walltz just continues to jitter nervously, cupping her hands and rubs them together a few times before answering.

“I’m fine. Why do you ask?” she says, still failing to meet her eyes.

“Because you look like you’re about to freak out about something.” Ms. Walltz takes a deep breath and holds it in before loudly blowing it out.

“We need to talk.” She says, looking as if she regretted saying it the moment the words left her lips.

“Sure,” Al says as she takes a seat on the couch facing her mom. “What’s wrong? Did some thing happen?”

“No…well yes. Sort of. I… I lied to you.” She says finally, her voice slightly crackling.

“What do you mean? Lied about what?”

“About your dad.” She says, taking in a deep breath.

“My…dad? What about him? You said he left when he found out you were pregnant.”

“I lied. He didn’t leave us…we left him.” She says as she looks back down at the floor.

“What…?” Allison asks, clearly dumbstruck and confused at the thought.

“You have to understand though; I did it for your own good.” She stammers. I look over at Allison, as the whole situation seems to have clicked in her head.

“You took me away from my dad…You’re the reason he’s not in my life?” she asks, tearing her eyes away from her mom.

“I did it to protect you, you must understand that.” Ms. Walltz says, looking up at her daughter.

“By lying to me my whole life? Why, what did he do?”

“He wasn’t all…there. He was sick, mentally. He started becoming violent towards me, he would stay out all night and come home drunk.” She took another deep breath, choking on the memories of it all. “He was a devout atheist, and at the time, so was I. But I started feeling as though there was something missing in my life, and I told him this. It sent him off on a violent rampage, screaming, throwing things at me. Yelling on about how I was being unfaithful, that he should be enough to make me happy.” She pauses, and pulls back her thin, black hair, revealing a thick scar above her left eyebrow. I’ve seen this many times, but never learned how she had gotten it. I watch as she grazes her fingers across it.

“I take it you didn’t get that from falling.” Allison says quietly, staring intensely at her mother. She shakes her head.

“I told him I was taking a class at the community college, when in reality I started attending a church in the area near there. It was there where I came to know God and become a Christian. Well…One of the church members ran into him in town, and told him about how they enjoyed having me in their church.” She pauses for a moment, trying to hold back the tears in her eyes, but a couple fall out anyway. She hastily wipes them away and continues. “When I came home that night, he was waiting for me in the living room, drunker than I’d ever seen him before. Angry would be an understatement, he was furious, and while he went on his yelling rampage at me; he smashed a beer bottle across my head and knocked me out. When I woke up, it must have been the next day, there was blood all over my head and clothes, and he was nowhere to be found. The first thought that came across my mind was that he thought he killed me. I got up, grabbed you out of your crib and ran for it.” She says, taking another deep breath when she finishes, wiping away the reaming tears in her eyes. Allison looks down, thinking through the whole story she’s been told, wondering whether or not to believe it.

“Why have you never told me this before?” she asks.

“There was never really a need to. I guess I was afraid you would try and go looking for him.”

“Why would I go looking for someone who used to beat you? You could have told me this before.”

“I know… I’m sorry. I just thought, the less you knew about him, the better.” Al nods her head, continuing mulling it about in her head for a few minutes.

“I was already born?” she asks, remembering what was said.

“Yes, you were about two or three. I’m kind of surprised that you don’t remember.”

“I don’t remember anything before living at Grandma and Grandpa’s”

“That’s better then, we were constantly yelling at each other.”I look away for a moment to think.

“Katie?” Allison says to me. I look up but she’s not looking at me, she’s still talking to her mom. Huh? I could have sworn she called me. “Katie?” I hear her call me again. I look up once again, but she’s still preoccupied. Weird, I know she called me.

“Allison.” I call back, but she doesn’t respond to me.

“Katie!” I hear her call out again. What’s going on? How is she talking to me, she doesn’t even know I’m here.

“Go to the bathroom before bed!”

I feel a hand grab onto my arm. I open my eyes and blink for a few moments. I see Al standing over my bed, shaking me awake. Another dream.

“I’m awake.” I say sitting up a little. My mom walks in and asks how I’m doing. “Fine.” I say, wishing she would leave.

“Well get up and come downstairs, you’ve been in bed for the last two days.” She says, coming closer.

“Uh, in a minute.” I say, wishing more than ever for her to just nod and go back downstairs. But oh no!

“Now!” she says, standing beside my bed with Al. “I don’t want you falling back asleep. You need to get up and join the living.”

“And I will, just give me a minute.” I mumble into my blanket. I look up at Al, hoping she’ll get the picture and the two of them will go downstairs and make small talk, leaving me to my puddle. But she’s not even looking at me; she seems perfectly distracted by something outside my window. She snaps out of it, and looks at the desperation in my face.

“Now!” my mom says, ready to yank the covers off. Al stops her.

“Hey, um, Ms. Devo can I talk to Katie for a minute?” she asks. My mom stares back down at me, and I watch in horror as her eyes get all big. I stare back at my blankets, pulling them back up to my chin, wishing I’d just disappear. She snorts my name in disgust, shakes her head down at me and storms off. Well, that went well. Not.

“Well…that was pleasant.” I say.

“Nightmare?” she asks.

“Of course.” I say, my face now glowing redder than Christmas lights. She nods sympathetically down at me and offers to scoot out for a few. I do my now routine bed clean up, get dressed, hide the evidence, empty a bottle of air freshener, and let Al back in. Maybe I won’t chop her up after all.

“So…what happened?” she asks, getting straight to the point.

“Oh, I don’t really know what this one had to do with any of this.” I say, not quite sure if I should tell her or not.

“What was it about?” she asks.

“Well… I’m not sure how I should put this.”

“Out with it.”

“It was about your dad.”

“Oh.” She says, going quiet. “I don’t want anything to do with him. He hurt my mom, and he obviously didn’t want me.” She says, pounding her fist into my mattress. I wonder if she already knows. “Well, what happened?” she asks after a moment of awkward silence.

“Umm… I don’t think I’m the one to tell you.” I say, staring down at my bitten off fingernails.

“What do you mean? You’re the only one who knows whatever’s going on in your crazy little head.”

“No, I mean, it was about a conversation you’re going to have with your mom. It’s about your dad.” I say, nibbling at what remains on the tips of my fingers.

“Well, if she’s going to tell me he’s dead or something, you can tell me that, it won’t bother me. It’s not like I knew him or anything, I wasn’t even born when he left.” I bite down harder on my finger, causing to bleed a little in my mouth. “Well, whatever. What does he have to do with this whole thing?”

“I don’t know. It was kinda out of place. That’s the second dream in a row I’ve had about you and your mom.”

“Weird.” She says. I hear a familiar tune, as Al digs around in her pocket for her cell phone.

“Hello?” Her face tightens and strains to hear whoever is on the other line. “Hello? Who is this?” she demands into the phone, her face turning a white flour color. She hangs up and stares at it for a moment before stuffing it back in the pocket of her jacket and looking back up at me.

“What was that about?” I ask. “And don’t even think about giving me that whole ‘wrong number’ thing."

She shrugs her shoulders and goes, “Just some guy trying to scare me.”

“Why, what did he say?” She just shakes her head. I was about to pursue the matter more, but my cell phone rings. I snatch it up off my nightstand and answer it.

“Hello?” I ask after a couple of seconds staring at the screen saying “restricted number”. Heavy breathing. “Hello?” I ask, getting annoyed.

“Didn’t I tell you to mind your own business?” a muffled voice says on the other end. It’s him.

“Who are you?” I demand. “What do you want?”

“You know what I want.” He says again, the same eerie confidence rolling off his tongue and into his voice.

“What do you want from her?” I ask, my voice trembling.

“Her life.” He says, starting to laugh, a laugh that sends chills up through my whole body. “Why? Why do you want her? Do you even know her?” I ask, barley above a whisper.

“Oh, I know all about her. I’ve had my eye on her for many months now. I know her address, I know her friends, I know her school, and I know which classes she takes and when. I even know her locker combination. Let’s not forget her cell phone number.” My heart pounds into my chest, I feel like I’m going to be sick. I want to hang up, but I can’t move. I swallow. Hard.

“Why are you doing this?” I whimper, nothing but fear flowing out of my voice.

“Because she’s one of… them.” He says, pure disgust in his voice.

“One of what?” I ask, more then one finger bleeding at this point.

“You know what. You know what she…is.” I turn around, so my back now faces her and I drop my voice.

“That’s what this is all about?” I ask dumbfounded. “You want to kill her because she believes in God?”

“They disgust me! They're all idiots!” he yells into the phone so loud, I’m forced to pull it away from my ear.”

“You’re…crazy” I stammer.

“I’m the crazy one?” he asks truly bewildered, he breathes in for a moment and laughs, almost sounding pleased. “You shouldn’t be the one to talk. I don’t know very many fifteen year olds who still wet the bed…every night. And wait, there’s more. Haven’t you done that twice today already? And what? It’s only five.” How does he know all this…? How does he know I’ve been wetting the bed, at all really, but every night? And today? How does he know that?

“Not much of a purpose having a bathroom in your room if all you ever do is just go there in bed.” I feel my face turn red with shame and anger.

“It’s… not my fault.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night. By the way, I’m not completely heartless. I’ll give your friend an option. There’s only one thing she needs to do, she does it, and I’ll go away for good. No more phone calls, no nothing.”

“What?” I squeak.

“She has to deny it. She has to stand in front of everyone at school and say ‘I don’t believe in God.’ I’ll swing by some time and give her a little…motivation. She does it. I’ll go away. If she doesn’t…well, let’s just say you better start looking for a new best friend.” He laughs. I’m shaking at this point. Shaking hard. Crying too, Al definitely knows something’s up. She walks up next to me and places a hand on my shoulder.“Well, it’s been nice having this little chat. It’s been really fun. We should do it again some time soon. Don’t bother calling the police by the way. They’ll never believe you. What would you tell them? You dreamed it was going to happen?” he says, laughing again. “Before I hang up, I left you a little present. A couple presents actually. A little something you left behind and a little something extra. No need to thank me. Just remember what we talked about. I expect her to have made a decision before I…swing by.”

Click.

It must have been a full minute before I put the phone down from my ear. A whimper escapes my mouth. What am I going to do? He’s going to kill her!  
Tears begin falling from my face. He’s watching her. He’s watching every move she makes. He’s watching me! He knows the inside of my room! He even knows there’s a bathroom in there!

“Katie?” Allison asks quietly. “What happened?” I just shake my head and silently cry. I can’t do this! I can’t deal with this!A sudden chill fills the room; I look over to see the window half-way open.“Al?” I ask through silent sobs. “Did you open the window?” I cry. I know the answer. She looks over, and gasps.

“No. But we’ve got a bigger problem!” she says pointing out the window. I look out, and officially lose it. I collapse on the floor and just cry. What else can I do? Al picks me up by my arm and leads me over to the bed. She doesn’t even know what to do. After a minute she gets up and walks back over to the window and climbs out, over to the tree in the front yard. Good thing too, I couldn’t make it over there, I’d probably fall off the roof.

There, hanging on the tree branches in full view, was a white soiled sheet, and balancing on a near branch, a pack of adult diapers. Attached to that was an envelope with red lettering on the envelope spelling out, Katie.

Al comes back in, arms full of all the things from the tree. She dumps them on the floor and comes back over to me while I’m crying hysterically at this point. But when have I not been lately? If I’m not leaking out the bottom, I’m leaking out the top.

I know I need to pull myself together; I need to tell her what he said. She comes and joins me on the bed, a box of tissue in her hands.

“It was him, wasn’t it?” she asks, handing me the box. I nod my head as I blow my nose. She patiently waits, as I try to compose myself, enough to tell her what happened. I take a deep breath, and spill. I tell her everything. What he said, about her and his proposition and what happens if she declines.  
At the end of it, we’re both crying. We’re terrified. The only safe place to be at the moment is in each others arms, crying like seven year olds.

I take back what I said earlier. I don’t want to kill her, or yell at her, I’m not even mad at her. I love her. I can’t let her die, I don’t know what I’d do if that happened. I think a part of me would die as well. I don’t even want to think about it. I can’t, because it’s not going to happen. I won’t let it.

“Maybe we should try calling the police. Maybe he’s wrong. Maybe, they will believe us.” Al says. “It couldn’t hurt.”

“Maybe.” I say, as I pick up the phone and dial 9-1-1. Nothing. Arr! I unplugged the phone! Look whose smart now! I pick my cell phone up and dial, wait a few seconds for the operator to pick up, and take a deep breath, preparing myself to spill what’s been happening. Al clings onto my free arm for support. Not sure whose support though, neither of us are holding up too well.

When the operator picks up, I try and tell her what’s happening. I don’t want to tell her about the dreams; she’d think I was crazy. So I try to tell her everything that’s happened outside my subconscious. She tries to assure me that it’s probably a prank and that I’m overreacting. She tells me that everything will be fines so I have no choice. I have to tell her about the nightmares. I have to tell her why I think Al is in real danger, why it’s far from a prank.

“Uh-huh…” she says slowly after I told her all that there is to tell. “Well, there’s nothing I can really do. No real crime has taken place so far. If it will make you feel better, I’ll add an extra patrolman over at the school. But until an actual crime is committed, which I doubt there will be, there’s not much we can do.” And hangs up. She didn’t believe me. Well… I tried. I hang up and throw my cell phone against the wall. I look toward Allison and shake my head in frustration. We sit in silence for a moment.

“Are you going to open it?” she asks after a minute, pointing toward the package of diapers on the floor.

“I’m not opening those.” I say in disgust.

“No, not that, the note attached to it.” She says, pointing down toward the white envelope taped to the side. I get up, pull it off and sit back down. I slide my fingers under the crease and open it up. Al leans over and we both read the note in horror.

Smile pretty for the camera!  
I’m watching you!


	15. Chapter 15

We stare at the note in my hands, and then at each other. We look around the room in horror, looking in the corners for some hidden camera.  
That’s how he knows what’s been going on! What we’ve said, what I’ve been dreaming, and what’s been happening because of them. He’s got a video camera in here! But how? How did he get in here? My rooms a mess! It could be hidden under anything! Time for a little damage control. Al seems to have read my mind; she takes in the room then nods to me in agreement. And so we begin are perilous journey in search of what some would call a “floor”. A long and difficult task awaits us. We may not make it out alive…

My mom came in about an hour later to see what happened, why we never came back down. I think we scared her. She made this really weird noise; we figured it was from shock. I guess it’s been a little while since I actually cleaned my room.

We must have looked everywhere! In every corner, in every space, in every drawer. Nothing. Not a camera to be found.

“Maybe he was just bluffing, just trying to scare us possibly.” I say as I collapse down on the bed, a wave of exhaustion taking over.

“But how does he know about, well…everything?” Al asks doubtful, taking another quick glance around the room. She digs around in her pocket and produces her cell phone. “Huh… I got a text message. Umm… Katie” she said softly, looking down at the screen.

“What?” I ask, sitting back up. “Is it from him?”

“Yeah… but it’s weird.” She says handing me the phone. I look down and see the words, all in caps.

“TIRED” OF ME YET?

“Well if you’re not, I sure am.” I say as I hand it back and lay back down. “Mentally and physically.”

“Why did he put quotes around the word tired?” Al asks.

“I don’t know. He’s a psychopath; they never have good reasons for anything they do.”

Allison’s phone rings again, we freeze on the spot, not sure whether or not to answer it. It rings a few times before Al takes a deep breath and answers.  
“Hello?” her face relaxes as the other voice on the other end begins to talk. “It’s my mom.” She mouths to me. “I’m at Katie’s…Oh, okay. I’ll be home in a minute.” She says and hangs up. “I got to go home. Call me if anything else happens.”

“Okay.” I say standing up. “And, Al?”

“Yeah?”

“Will you be okay?” I ask her, our eyes locking for a moment.

She pauses for a moment, as if to be wondering the same thing herself. “I’m okay.” She says after a moment of thought. We exchange hugs one last time before she sets off for home. I pick the letter up off the floor and re-examine it one more time before stuffing it in my desk drawer with the other one. I pace my room as I try to figure out what to do. Should I tell my mom? No, she didn’t believe the last one, what would make you think she’d believe this one. It’s all a big joke to her. A prank.  
Who do I tell? Police wouldn’t believe me. My mom won’t believe me; doubt Allison’s mom would take it seriously either. What adult would possibly believe us? Amanda! I reach into my backpack and dig around for the card with her cell phone number on it. I reach over to my cell phone and punch in the numbers, my hands slightly clamming up.

“Katie!” she says after recognizing my voice. “Glad you called, what happened? Any new nightmares or clues?”

“Yeah, but we’ve got a bigger problem.” I say, wiping my hands on my pants. I try my best to control my voice and tell her about the phone call and card that I received. There’s no way to hide it though. I was scared, and no matter how much I tried to hide it, the sound of fear came out anyway. When I finish, my body was shaking again, about just as much as my voice. “Me and Allison looked everywhere for a camera, we even looked outside a little on the roof. We couldn’t find anything. Do you think he was for real, or was he just trying to scare us?”

“You said earlier that he knew things about your room, where certain things were, and things that happened that you didn’t tell anyone.”

“Yeah, but I can’t figure out how. It’s got to be a camera; he knew certain…phrases that were used in the nightmares that I didn’t tell anyone about. Things I probably yelled out in my sleep.” I say, looking up at the ceiling. There’s this annoying feeling now in the back of my mind, a feeling of being watched. Let me tell you, it is NOT fun! If he is really watching me, he’s probably watching me change! I’m not changing in here anymore! I’ll just change in the hall bathroom. Showers. I gasp. Is he monitoring the bathroom? Yeah, I’m not going in there anymore! I’ll just use the shower in my moms’ room. If she asks why, I’ll tell her the light burnt out, it’s usually about two weeks from when I announce it, to when it’s actually fixed, on account of we make Alex fix those kinds of things.

“Yeah… He said he was going to kill Allison unless she denied God in front of everyone at school.” I say, feeling another wave of tears coming through. I hold my breath and wish for them to disappear.

“At school?” she asks as soon as the words leave my mouth.

“Yes, he said he was going to ‘drop by’ some time to give her a little motivation. He said that she needed to have made up her mind by then.”

“Have you told anyone about this? Do your parents know? Have you told Allison?” she asks urgently.

“I’ve told Al, and I’ve tried to tell my mom, but she doesn’t believe me. She thinks it’s a prank.” I say, hugging my pillow. Neither of us says anything for a minute. I start to wonder if she’s even still there.

“I don’t think it’s a prank.” She says sounding sincere, reassuring me that I’m not losing my mind. Finally! Someone who believes me! “Did he give a certain time he was going to do this? A day maybe?”

“No. He just said he’d stop by sometime.” I say, trying to hold back a yawn. No I don’t find this topic boring, quite the opposite, it terrifies me, but something weird has been happening these last few days. I can barely keep my eyes open. “I’m sorry, I have to go. I can’t stay awake much longer.”

“Okay, but have you gone to the doctor yet? You know, Mono has been going around.” Mono, ha! I don’t exactly have to worry about that one. Kissing hasn’t exactly been on my agenda, well…ever.

“Oh, I don’t think that is really an issue for me. I’m to, um… inexperienced in that area.” I say, feeling sort of embarrassed explaining my love life, or lack of, to the school nurse. “Well, I’ll see you at school or something, bye.” I say and hang up. I crash back down on and my bed and happily reunite myself with my blanket and pillow. But leave it to my mom to come up and ruin my happy little reunion and force me out of bed. I don’t care if I’ve been in bed for the last two days, and I probably wouldn’t mind going at it for another two, but apparently my mother thinks otherwise. What might I ask is so wrong with letting me sleep? That’s just extra hours you don’t have to deal with me. I know deep down, that’s what you really want. But oh no! She wants me up and out of bed, for reasons I will never understand.

When I finally manage to actually drag my butt downstairs, it’s only to walk over to the kitchen table and attempt to fall right back asleep, if Alex and my mom weren’t there. I glance up at my mom who’s sitting across from me all stern looking and whatnot. I can tell she’s not exactly the proud mom of a fifteen-year-old-bed-wetting-daughter. She’s still pretty ticked off about that, which is totally unfair because it’s not like I’m too proud of it either. Shouldn’t the humiliation be enough for her? And it’s not like I haven’t done practically everything I can possibly think of to stop it.

She seems to be reading my mind since as soon as I look up at her she’s all, “We’re going to ask about THAT tomorrow too.” Joy.

“Oh. you’re finally going to get those nightmares fixed? Yes! Finally, I can sleep in my own room again!” Alex says as he joins us at the table. We both give,him a puzzled look. “You do know she’s been having nightmares, right?” Alex says to my mom. We both continue to stare at him.

“How did you know that? Did you corner Al in the hallway or something?” I ask, curious as to how he knows this.

“Well, yes and no.” he admits. “If anyone noticed I’ve been sleeping on the couch for the last week and a half.”

“Okay, but what does having spiders in your room have to do with any of this?”

“Not because of spiders, because of you.” Alex says through mouthfuls of cereal. “You’ve been screaming bloody murder in your sleep, and my room’s right next to yours. It was freaking me out, so I’ve been sleeping downstairs.” He grins for a minute and faces me. “You know, you curse more asleep than you do awake. You’ve been using an interesting combination of words last time I was up there. Some I’ve never even heard before. I’m surprised you haven’t been hearing her scream, your door is always open.” He says to mom. Has he forgotten that mom can sleep through anything? A little yelling here and there isn’t going to wake her up.

“Have you forgotten who you’re talking to? A little shout here and there isn’t going to wake her up.” I point out.

“No, you don’t get it.” He says. “You’ve been screaming at the top of your lungs and shouting things out .I even went in your room once to see what was going on and it looked like you were trying to kill someone with your sheets. Seriously, no wonder you’re tired, you use all your energy at night trying to kill non existing people.”

“She has?” was all my mom is able to come up with. Alex nods and continues eating.

“So, you said you talked to Allison. When?” I ask, feeling a bit more energy than before.

“Friday night when she was here. She came down in the middle of the night when I was on the couch. I asked her if she knew anything about the screaming, but she just said you’ve been having nightmares.”

“Oh.” I said more to myself than anyone. I wonder if I should tell him. I watch as he gets up and goes upstairs. Well, now would be the time. I get up and follow him, ignoring my moms yells that I better not be going back to bed behind me. I grab him by the arm, pull him into my room, and shut the door.

“Want to know what’s up?” I ask, as I start digging through my desk drawer in search of the notes.

“Sure.” He says, leaning up against the wall. “Umm, what are those for?” he asks, raised eye brows as he points over to the pack of diapers. I run over and kick them under my bed, leaving his question hanging in the air. I pull out the envelopes and set them on my bed. I take a deep breath and tell him what’s happening. The nightmares, the phone calls, the notes, everything. Well okay…almost everything. I must say, as much as I despise my brother at times, it was nice to finally get to talk to someone about this that I was related to.

“Why didn’t you tell mom?” he asks, still staring at the note about the camera in his hands.

“I tried, she thinks this is all a prank.” I say, anger coming out in my voice. “She’s taking me to the doctor tomorrow to get me ‘looked at’.”

“Oh. What is the THAT mom was talking about?” he asks, finally setting the envelope back down on my desk.

“Huh?”

“When you came downstairs, mom said ‘we’re going to ask about THAT tomorrow too.’ What’s the THAT?”

“Oh, nothing you want to know about.” I say, turning my now red face away to face the bookshelf.

“Does it have anything to do with this?” he asks.

“Yes, but I rather not say. It’s…embarrassing.” I mumble.

“What? You can tell me. How embarrassing could it be? It’s not like your wetting the bed or something.” Now would be a really good time for the ground to open up. Please? You don’t even have to be that big, maybe just enough so I can jump into or something or maybe possibly just hide? Nope. Nothing. Nada. My only hope is that he can take it, nice, sensibly, and maturely. Ha!

“Oh my God. You freak! You’ve been wetting the bed?” he yells after I don’t respond, keeping an eye on the floor, still strongly willing for it to open. He bursts out laughing, well, until I kick him anyway, that shuts him up. “Jeez. Okay sorry. It’s funny.” He says, massaging his leg.

“Not really. For you maybe.” I mumble, continuing a blank stare at the floor.

“Well, have you connected it yet?” he asks after he finished laughing.

“Connected what?” I ask, looking up at him.

“Well, you said everything else seemed to have a purpose, I know that, you know, it seems out of place and all, but maybe it’s not. Maybe there’s a purpose for it after all.

“What could possibly be the purpose for that? Even if there was one, is it really all that necessary?” I say doubtfully. Well come to think of it, I could never figure something about it out. “Well, I do hear something weird every time right before I wake up. Every nightmare I’ve had, I hear a voice telling me to ‘Go to the bathroom before bed’.” Another grin stretched across his face. “Stop laughing, I’m serious” I scowl. “He knows my little problem, he sent me diapers. He even sent back a sheet from Bio camp. This is serious! STOP LAUGHING!” Mine and Al’s life could be in serious danger and all my brother can do is laugh because his little sister wets the bed. How immature can he get?

“Okay, settle down.”

“Only if you stop being so immature.” I yell back.

“Okay, okay. Let me think.” He says as he scratches his head. “Has anyone strange been in your room recently?” he asks as he examines my room for hidden cameras.

“Yeah.” I say sarcastically. “You.”

“Ha. No seriously, like maybe during your trip last weekend. Did mom let someone in while you were gone?” he asked, opening my closet.

“Oh. I never thought of that. But why would mom let some weird, bald guy in my room. Let alone long enough to install some freaky surveillance thing.” I say, shooing him away from my closet before he messes up my now clean room that I worked so hard on. Well…that Al worked so hard on, while I fell asleep at the desk. I know that sounds mean, but I was tired, and I did after all, clean out from under my bed. Al would not go near there for obvious reasons. I wasn’t mean enough to make her do that much. And I didn’t even make her; I was totally helping, well, until the tiny bit of energy I had depleted. She did pretty much everything else though. She, as I suspected, was too preoccupied with the fact that someone is trying to kill her to notice something as small as me not helping her clean my own room.  
I am the worst friend ever! But hey…I have a floor! And it’s carpeted. I can actually lay down on the floor and stick my arms and legs out. And to top it all off, I can do this AND not hit anything! Normally if I tried that, I’d break something. Whether it is something in my room, me, or both. Something will get broken, I can guarantee that.

I lay down on the floor, admiring the fact that I am still on one piece and that giant dust bunnies have not, in fact, picked me up and carried me away to their leader. If me and Al live through this, I might even make an attempt to keep it this way. Maybe…

“Why don’t you ask her?” I ask lazily staring up at him as I start to feel myself drift back to sleep.

“Do you really think you’re in danger?” he asks, standing over me, looking down into my face.

“Yeah.” I say, lifting an eyelid.

“Then this is something the two of you need to work out. I’m not getting into this.” He says as he leaves my room.

“Argh.” I moan at the thought of getting up and asking myself. But if I don’t, she’s going to see me falling asleep and get all menopausal on me again. That and it’s not like I can change the carpet if I accidentally fall asleep here. Not the best of choices. I eventually drag myself off the floor and walk/crawl downstairs to join everyone else. Or as my mom put it, “the living”.

“Oh, good you’re here.” My mom says as I about pass out on the kitchen table. “I was just about to go check up on you.” Uh-huh…sure. Alex elbows me in the arm and I look up to see him motioning me to ask her. I sigh and do it.

“Hey, mom.” I say to the kitchen table. “Was anyone here while I was gone, like in my room or something?” I was completely expecting her to say no and ask why and all that.

She just turns the page of the book she’s reading and goes, “Uh-huh, the electrician.”What? Electrician? Electrical! Cameras are electrical, installed by someone who knows what they’re doing when it comes to electronics!

“Why was the electrician in my room?” I ask, trying to sound all casual and whatnot. And I thought I did a good job too, my voice only squeaked a little bit.

“Said he needed to check something about how many appliances were plugged in.” she says as she continues to read her book. “Why?”

“Oh, was just wondering.” I sigh.

“Oh okay, by the way, your doctors appointment’s at four, so come home straight after school.” She says. School? I have to go to school? Like this? This is going to be interesting.

“Okay. Well, I have a lot of homework to do. So I’ll see you later. “ I say, as I attempt to drag myself back up the stairs.

“Okay,” she calls up after me, “But don’t even think about going back to sleep, I’ll be in to check on you in a minute.” What is the big deal? Why will you not let me sleep? I just go in my room and close the door. I sit at my desk and look down at my cell phone. Whoa…Five missed calls. All from Allison. I punch in her number and wait for her to pick up.

“Hello?” she says.

“Hey Al, it’s me, what’s up?” I ask.

“Oh, Katie! I’m so glad you called!” she practically yelled.” It happened!”

“What? What happened?” I ask, moving over to my bed.

“What you said earlier. About my mom telling me about my dad, it happened. I walked inside, and she was sitting in the couch, and she told me the whole thing.” She says, choking on the words a bit. I take the phone away from my ear for a moment and stare at it, willing for it not to be true.

“It’s real?” I whisper to myself horrified. If that really happened…then. No! I push the thought out of my head, it can’t be! It can’t be real! It just can’t be! It can’t happen! But a voice inside is saying, yes, yes it can.

“Katie? Katie!? Are you there?” I press the phone back to my ear.

“Yeah…sorry.” I whisper.

“What are we going to do?” she asks, just as quiet as I did. At least she understands what this means. She’s not safe. Neither of us are. I don’t care that I’m getting death threats. I’m going to stick with her until the end. I mean it. I’m NOT going to sit back and let her die. I’m going to do whatever I can to help, even if that means I get dragged down along with her. I can’t believe this is happening. It’s one thing to have nightmares. Another to get threatening letters left to you on your second story window, at least it has the slightest chance of being a prank. But proof you’re being watched by cameras and realizing your nightmares are becoming reality? Yeah, it’s not so pleasant.

“I…I don’t know.” I whisper.

“Can you come over? I don’t want to be by myself.” she says, her voice rising. Yeah, I don’t blame her. I don’t exactly want to be by myself either. Even if I do know this is going to happen at school, I don’t exactly want to be in my room anymore.

“I’ll be right over.” I say as I hop down off my bed and slide my feet in my shoes.

“Where are you going?” my mom asked as I attempted to slide out the front door, unnoticed.

“Al’s.”

“I thought you said you were going to do homework?”

“I am, but I realized I forgot to get it from her. It’s at her house.” I lie and slip out the front door and search around the garage for my bike. I breathe heavily as I pedal down the street, fighting the urge to give up and press on down the four blocks to Allison’s house. I throw my bike down on the front porch, ring the bell and half a second later Al whips open the door and pulls me inside her room.

“I’m so glad you’re here!” she says flinging her arms around me, nearly knocking me over. “What’s in the bag?” she asks after letting go and letting me breathe.

“Everything.” I say dumping out its contents onto the floor. I pick up the letters and arrange them on the floor along with a notepad and pen to take notes. “We’re going to figure this out.” I say. “We can’t do this at my house, it’s being monitored.”

“You mean…there’s really a camera watching you? You found it?” she asks, staring at the letters with hate and anger.

“No, but my mom said the electrician was in my room while we were at the Biology trip. Seems too strong of a coincidence for there to be a electrician in there right before we get the letter saying we’re being watched by a camera” I say, motioning towards one of the envelopes. Al silently nods in agreement.

“Okay.” I say, writing my thoughts down on paper. “What we need to do is arrange all of this in a time line, and try to make sense of it all. We need to figure out who this creep Ryan is and figure out what’s he’s planning, so we can stop it.” I write a chart on a piece of paper and label it Dream One, Dream Two, Dream Three etc. “Hmm,” I think out loud. “My first dream, what happened? Not much. I was walking to school and felt nervous. Then I woke up.” I say as I write it down on paper.

“Is that when everything started?” she asks. I nod my head and continue.

“Okay, second dream. Walking to school, felt even more nervous than the first one, started feeling scared. Walked onto school grounds and started to sweat. That’s when I woke up.” Al peeks over my shoulder to see what I’m writing.

“Umm…maybe I should take notes. I can’t read a single thing you’re writing.” I roll my eyes and hand over the note pad. She scratches out everything I wrote and re-writes it.

“Okay.” She says, sitting up, pen in hand. “Third dream. What happened?”

“Just about the same thing, except this time I turned the corner onto make out alley to go meet you by your locker.” She nods and motions with her hand for me to go on with the next dream. "Okay, this is when things started to get scary. I turned the corner and that’s when I found you and Ryan. He had a gun and it was pointed at your head.”

“What did he look like?” she asks, leaning up against her bed.

“He wasn’t big or anything. Average. The only things that really stuck out was the tattoo of a snake on his left arm, and the fact that he was balder than Mr. Clean.” I say, scooting over to lean against the bed next to Al.

“Was the tattoo fully covering his arm?”

“No. It wasn’t really big or anything. It was actually smaller, about as big as that pen.” I say, pointing to the pen in Al’s hand. She writes all of this down, and reads it to herself before asking anything else.

“What did he say, in his exact words?”

“Umm…” I say, trying to think back. “He asks you if you believe in God. You say yes, and he shoots you. Then I feel myself falling, and then wake up.” She writes it all down but doesn’t say anything. She gives me the thumbs up sign and I rack my brain for the next dream.“Exact same dream, except this time, after he kills you, he spots me and asks if I believe in God.” I pause for a moment and take in a lung full of air and then continue. “I say…no. He says I made a wise choice, but now that I know who is, he can’t let me go. He shoots me as well.”

She reads it over and then asks, “Knows who he is?” she repeats. “Do you recognize him?”

“No. I don’t think so.” I say, picturing him in my mind. “But there’s just something about him. Something familiar, but I just can’t seem to place it. Maybe it’s just the confidence in his voice.” I say. But I know what it is. It isn’t the confidence in his voice. It’s his face, and most importantly. His breath. I can’t tell her this though. I need to, but I just can’t get myself to do it. Besides, it can’t be him anyway. I already ruled him out. Mr. Stinky has a full head of hair, no tattoo, and his first name isn’t Ryan. It’s Brian.  
Hmm… Sounds a lot alike though. Maybe I misheard. Maybe Allison’s mom said Brian, not Ryan. I thought for sure she said Ryan. Can you even miss hear things in dreams? Okay so the only three things that link Mr. Stinky to this just happens to be that they kind of look alike, they have similar sounding names, and they both are in serious need of a breath mint. Not exactly enough to accuse somebody of something like this. Especially something that hasn’t even happened yet.

“Katie! Snap out of it!” Al says, tapping me on the shoulder. “Next dream.”

“Oh, sorry.” I say as I think back to the topic. “Let’s see. This one is when I went all crazy during detention. When I got shot in this one, I could see Alyssa standing behind Ryan. After Ryan kills me, I wake up on the floor. I look around and it’s my judgment. God shows me all the things I’ve done wrong. He shows me how you tried to tell me about him, and all the times I refused to listen to you. He sent me to hell, but I remember I woke up before that.” I say, shuddering at the mere memory of it. “That’s when I woke up on the detention room floor.” She nods and continues writing. She then waves her hand and flips over another sheet of paper.

“Okay, this dream happened when you spent the night. This was my trip to hell. I was standing in a really hot, dry, desert. I remember that I couldn’t close my eyes because my eye lids were gone, also that I was butt naked standing in the middle of nowhere. There were really big open sores all over my skin, so I could barley stand up because it hurt so bad. Then people, like my mom, my dad and you, came up and told me things, like how I was a disappointment to them and stuff. I was crying, but acid was coming out, burning my face. Weird grayish creatures appeared and started climbing up my body, breaking the sores on my skin. That’s when I finally woke up.”

“Wow that one creeps me out.” She says after writing it all down. “How many more are there? I’m running out of paper.”

“Five more.” I say, trying to catch my breath.

“You dreamed that much?” she asks, bewildered.

“Yeah, I didn’t realize I had that many dreams. There’s still the one where I was looking for Mr. Stinky, the one about Alyssa’s funeral, the motel, the phone conversation and the talk you had with your mom.”

“Jeez, slow down. No wonder you’ve been so tired lately. You’ve been more active in your sleep than you have been during the day.” she says. “Okay, let’s get this over with. Next dream.”

“Okay, this one I had decided to go get Mr. Stinky’s help. I ran into his classroom, but there was some lady in there subbing for him. I told her what was going to happen, but she just wanted to send me to the nurses’ office. I leave her classroom in frustration and sprint over to you, but before I could get over there I heard the gun go off. The noise attracts Alyssa’s attention, and she comes over to see what happened. Ryan sees her and kills her. He walks around the corner, sees me, smiles and kills me too.” I say, taking a deep breath when I finish.

“Okay, four to go.” Al says, flipping over another page.

“Ugh.” I moan. “Okay. This one is… Alyssa’s funeral. I’m at the graveyard, I see something going on, I walk over to see what’s happening. People are really sad, so I figure someone died, I walk over and see my mom. I go over to her to see what’s going on, but she won’t look at me. At first I’m just kind of like…fine whatever. I walk over to the front and see Alyssa’s’ picture. My mom leaves, so I get up and follow her, she still won’t talk to me. She leads me over to where my dad and Alex are standing. They too are crying, I put my hand on them, but it just goes right through. I look over and see that it’s my tombstone they're looking at and I figure I’m dead. That’s when I wake up.” I say, lying back down on the floor, wishing we could hurry up and finish.

“Okay, just a couple more.” She says, sounding just as tired as me.

“This one’s the creepy motel room. I start out in the parking lot of a Motel 6. I walk past all the doors, but my stomach says to keep going until I come up to door 27. I knock, but no one answers, I go in and the door closes behind me. I find a light switch and look around. There’re a bunch of newspaper clippings and stuff about you on this peg board. I’m all freaked out and what not and I’m backing up, but trip and fall back into a dark room. There’s a close line stretched across the room, and they're holding about 30 pictures of you. They’re all of you walking home, doing stuff at school. I move to get out of there, but he is behind me. He warns me that I should’ve just minded my own business, and then stabs me in the stomach.” I hesitate for a moment and then add, “He had really bad breath.” I don’t think she made the connection, she just continues to scribble down what I said in the notepad.

“This is the dream before we found the first envelope right?” she asks.

“Yeah.” I reply and examine her blue painted ceiling with glow in the dark stars stuck onto it from when she was younger. I used to love to spend the night at her house so I could sleep under them and get to stare up at them all night long. And okay, maybe I still do. But hey, they’re cool looking.  
So after I tell her about my last two nightmares, we go over what each ones purpose was, and we end up crashing out on her floor and just talk.

“Al.” I end up saying after a moment of silence. “I think it's Mr. Stinky.”

“What?” she asks, sitting up a little.

“I think Mr. Stinky is doing all of this.” I say again. “The guy from my nightmares has the same breath, the guy looks a lot like him and his first name sounds a lot like Ryan. Maybe I miss heard it, maybe it was Brian.”

She stays quiet for a moment, lost in thought. She finally says, “I don’t think it’s him. He wouldn’t do something like that to me. He’s not that type of person. That and he’s not bald and doesn’t have a tattoo like you described.” I look over and see her smile for a second. “That and the guy is completely technologically illiterate. I have to help him with anything that relates to a computer. Anything pretty much that was invented after a typewriter. There’s no way he could install cameras. Even if his life depended on it.” She’s right, he just doesn’t seem like the type of person to do something like this.

What would a History teacher have against Allison? What would any teacher have against her? She’s like, the perfect student. Always on time to class, gets straight A’s, never gets into trouble. The complete opposite of me. It’s not him, it can’t be. But then why do I have this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that it is? It’s the same nagging feeling I got when I tried to tell myself that these were just dreams. It told me they weren’t, and now look what’s happened!

“Hey, remember that candy I got in my locker? What if that Ryan guy left it there?” She sits up and gasps. “Remember what the card said? Love can be exhausting, let me take your breath away.” She repeats. “What if he plans on strangling me?”

“No, I think it means something else.” I say. “He doesn’t kill you in my dreams by strangling you. He uses a gun. Maybe it means something else.” I say and rack my brain for any clue as to what it might mean.

“Maybe,” she says, sitting back up. “What other weird stuff has happened besides the letters.”

“Phone calls.” I say, staring at Al, waiting for her to tell me what the “Wrong numbers” really were. When she doesn’t answer I ask. “What were those phone calls you were getting? You know, those ‘wrong numbers’ you were so frustrated over. I know they weren’t, they were him weren’t they?” I ask, staring Al down.

She sighs and nods her head. “He kept saying all this really weird stuff, like ‘I’m watching you’ and ‘I can’t wait until we finally meet’, ‘she’s going to pay’. It was freaking me out.

“You could have told me.” I say, fighting to keep my eyes open.

“I know, but if I told anyone, then I’d be admitting this was real. That it wasn’t just the revenge of my best friends’ junk food obsession.” she says while she bites down on her finger nail. Whoa, this must be killing her. She never bites her nails; that’s my thing. I look down at my own nail less stubs. I’d probably be doing the same, but I don’t have any more fingernails left to bite.

Instead I just sigh and place my hands in the pockets of my jacket. “Yeah, I guess.”

We both look up as we hear a knock on the door. Al’s mom enters and informs me that my mom called and that she wants me home. I look up at the black, digital clock sitting on the floor and gasp. I can’t believe it’s already nine. I get up and am forced to hold onto the chair in the corner for support as my legs give off a highly unpleasant tingling sensation. I really need to learn to stop sitting on my legs. After a few moments of wobbling unsteadily around the room a few times, I hug Al good-bye. A horrible thought crosses my mind. What if this will be the last time we hug? What if this happens soon and I never get to say good-bye?

I try to shake the thoughts out of my head. Al must be thinking the same thing as we end up staying this way for a few extra moments longer than normal.  
As I was about to walk out the door Al asks her mom something that catches my ear and causes me to stop.

“Mom, who is Ryan?” she asks.

She looks at her for a moment, as if confused. Then replies with an answer neither of us were expecting and Al nearly chokes on the water she was drinking. “Your father.”


	16. Chapter 16

I can’t believe what my mom made me do! Not only did she find the package of diapers under my bed, she’s actually making me wear them! Of course I tried to fight her on this with pretty much every fiber in my being, but she threatened that if I didn’t put it on in the next five minutes she was going to diaper me herself. I just can’t live with that kind of embarrassment! It’s bad enough I’m a bed wetter, but to actually have to wear old people diapers is just, ugh! These weren’t even the pull on kind! These had side tapes and everything. I felt like I spent ten minutes just staring at it in my hand and another ten trying to figure out how to even put it on. I hadn’t expected these things to be so big! I had pictured cute little baby diapers, not these massive blocks of fluffy material the size of a freaking bath towel. I almost even had to ask my mom for help, until I realized what it was I was going to ask her. No way am I going to ask her for help in putting me in a diaper! I had somehow managed to get it on, but I doubt it will stay on through the night. It’s loose and hanging funny. Oh well, she only said I had to wear it, she didn’t say anything about having to wear it correctly.This is so weird having so much padding against my butt.

It’s a little after midnight and I still can’t sleep. I’ve been tossing and turning for the last hour and a half. What happened? Two hours ago I would have done anything to just crawl under my blankets and sleep until who knows when? Not anymore. I can’t stop thinking and this diaper sure isn’t helping!. I can’t believe Al’s dad is Ryan. And yes, I didn’t hear wrong. It’s Ryan, not Brian. What if I had Mr. Stinky’s name wrong? What if his name is Ryan? If that was the case, that would mean…Mr. Stinky is Allison’s dad! How creepy would THAT be? Hmm…What if he already knows this? Well, okay if he was the one doing this, then he would obviously already know. But we already know he isn’t the one doing this! ARGH! This just takes us back to square one.

So what we need to do is…find out who Allison’s dad is. But where will that get us? We already tried telling the police. So what if we know who the guy is, know where to find him, and know what he looks like. It wouldn’t do us any good. There’s no proof that he’s going to do anything!  
I mean, does he even have a motive? Al said something about him saying “She’ll pay for this!” Is he only going to kill her to get back at her mom for leaving? Then what would be the whole thing with killing her because she believes in God? This makes no sense!

I need to sleep; I’ll worry about this tomorrow. No! I can’t What if this happens tomorrow?! But I need to sleep, so I’ll have the energy to do something about it. And besides, what if I dream something important? Maybe an important clue that will solve all of this.Yes! That is what I need to do! Sleep. So I can dream, and figure this whole thing out once and for all.  
^-^  
Motel 6. The words that greet me as I open my eyes. I look around, facing the 30 brown painted doors. I walk up, not sure what I’m doing, but at the same time, knowing where I need to go. I climb the brown wooden staircase and ascend to the second level. The butterflies in my stomach growing as I walk closer. Closer to door number twenty seven. I stand in front, facing the door, swallow hard, and knock. Nothing. I knock again. I know I heard movement inside. I hear foot steps coming closer. Or is that my heart?

I hear a lock unlatch and the door opens a crack while a woman with straight blond hair with way too much make-up on sticks her head out. I breathe a sigh of relief.

“What do you want?” she asks.

“Oh, I- I’m sorry to disturb y-you.” I stutter, the butterflies picking up even harder. Is this the right room? I glance back at the door. Door number twnety seven. Where’s Ryan? If he’s not here, why am I here? “Is there a…Ryan here?” I ask uncertainly. She gives me a strange look, shakes her head and slams the door. I walk back over to the stairs, the butterflies gradually fluttering away the farther I walk away from the door. Something obviously wants me here; it’s not ready for me to leave.

I draw a quick breath, glance down at the stairs and walk back. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, but I know I can’t leave. Not yet. I lean against the railing and wait. Not a clue in the world what I’m waiting for though. Twenty minutes pass, and I’m still here. I begin to feel antsy and pace. The fluttering in my stomach going in and out as I walk to and from the door. I hear a faint clicking sound and spin around. The same blond hair lady steps out, spies me and gives me a perplexed stare. I stare back. She sighs and waves me over with her hand, shaking her head, but more as if at herself than at me. The fluttering returns the closer I walk towards the door.

“You…You don’t happen to be…Katie?” she asks doubtfully.

“Yeah…”I squeak, the excitement growing stronger than ever.

“Wait here a second.” She says as she walks back into the room and reappears a few moments later, a white envelope clutched in her hand. “The rooms last occupant left this taped to the door.” She says flashing me the envelope with the familiar red handwriting sprawled across it spelling out my name.  
I reach out with a shaky hand for the envelope. I hold it in my trembling hands for a few moments before ripping it open, revealing another letter written in the same red, runny ink.

Thirty hours!  
Let’s see what your God can do!

I swallow the lump that’s formed in my throat. I clench my fists and then jam the letter back in the envelope and realize there’s something else in it. A small key. I stare at it for a moment and then stuff it in my pocket.

“Katie.” I hear a voice call softly to me. I look up, expecting it to be the blond women, but she was no longer there. “Katie.” I whip around, but no one is there.

“Go to the bathroom before bed!” I hear as a falling sensation forces me to hold on to something…fluffy. I jerk my eyes open.

“Katie. Time to get up.” My mom says as she pokes her head in from the hallway. Thirty Hours. That would be…tomorrow afternoon! "How'd the diapers work out?" She asked pulling my blanket back and groaning with disgust. I open my eyes and realize the right side of my pajama leg is wet and stuck to myself. "Take off your pants." She orders me as I blush and do as she says revealing that the right side of my diaper had completely come undone. "You didn't even put it on right!"

As soon as she leaves I force myself out of bed, not even caring that I wet myself for what felt like the 20th time. I do my usual morning routines and my not so usual ones. I throw my un-finished homework in my backpack and take off towards school, ignoring my mothers’ insistence to eat something.  
I have to get to school, I have to warn Allison. Is it thirty hours starting now, or last night? Well, if it was now, then it would be tomorrow night and the dream takes place during the day. So it would be starting last night, which really would place it tomorrow afternoon.

Well isn’t this just great? This could be my last day to live, and I’m stuck using it to go to school. School is to prepare for your future, but what if I don’t have a future? I wonder if Al would be interested in ditching today. Why can’t we just ditch tomorrow as well? Let's just not even be there when he’s here. But wouldn’t he just come back some other day? Or to her house perhaps. Plus there was that key. What was that for? Looked like something the school would use. I know it wasn’t a house key, it was really big and yellow; I don’t know many house keys that look like that. But what’s the point in dreaming about a key? Am I supposed to go to the motel and get it? I’d have to ditch school. Hmm… go to school, or scary motel?

Scary motel!

I know, I’ll go get Al, tell her about the dream and sneak off campus with her…whether she wants to or not.

“Hey.” I say when I reach school and join Al by her locker as usual. “What’s wrong?” I quickly notice she isn’t herself, but who would be at a time like this? She shakes her head and slams her locker shut, leaning her head against it, with her hands forming fists besides her. “Nothing.” She mumbles into the row of lockers. I know she’s lying. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her like this. Her eyes are blood shot; she looks half-dead and extremely tired.

She turns her head and stares at me. “Is there any new news? Please tell me it’s good.”

“Huh?” I ask, still taking her in.

“Dreams. Did you have another dream? A clue of some sort?” she asks hopefully. “Something that’s going to have this all figured out?”

“Well…” I say, hesitating a moment. Do I really want to tell her? She doesn’t look up to it, and I’m afraid if I tell her, she’ll have a nervous breakdown or…something. No I’ll tell her later.

“Well.” I say again. “I got a key.”

“A…key?” Al asks, raising her eyebrows at me suspiciously. “That’s it? No address as to where my dad might be? Nothing that could keep him from…You know.” I nod. She moans and slams her locker with her fists, making a loud enough noise to break apart the nearest couple for a quick glance to see what’s happening before they resume their…business. “Well…what was it for, do you have it? Do you know how it can help? Or what it unlocks?” I shake my head before she manages to shoot out any more questions.

“I don’t know.” I say quietly, nearly a whisper. “I had a dream I went back to the Motel 6 to speak with him …I guess. He wasn’t there. There was a new person occupying the room, a lady. She gave me an envelope, with my name on it, and inside there was a key. It looked like something from a business. It was big and yellow with a ton of different looking edges.”

“So what? Does this…key hold the answers we’re looking for?” she snaps in reply. “How is this going to help? We don’t know where to find it, or let alone what it unlocks!” I watch as she falls to the ground and lets her head fall into her knees.

I wish I had something to say to her, something that would help. I wish I could tell her that this would all work out, and that everything’s going to be okay. But I don’t even know that myself. I still need someone to tell me the same. I don’t know if I should stay where I am, or give her a hug. She might push me away though. Telling her about what the letter said sure won’t help; it might even make things worse. I wasn’t expecting him to actually follow through with his threats, let alone so…soon.

“Al…” I whisper softly. She shakes her head in her knees, wipes her eyes with her sleeve and stands up.

“I’m sorry. I’m fine.” She says in a daze. “I’m just…stressed.” I nod sympathetically.

“It’s okay. Anyone in your position would be”

“Ugh. I’m in no shape to handle the lesson today. I’ve got to go find Marissa and ask if she’ll take over.”

“Huh?”

“For the Bible club. Want to come?”

“Sure.” I shrug and follow her around the campus a few times until she leads me over to a tall, skinny, blond haired girl dressed head to toe in pink, including pink glasses. I glance over at the crowd of people surrounding her, dressed about the same. Whoa, how does Al know these people? They don’t really look like her type of crowd. Al’s not one to dress all in black or anything, but she’s certainly not one to dress all in pink either.

“Hey!” She smiles as Al flags her down, and then frowns slightly at the sight of me in my anti-pink clothes. “What’s up?” she asks, directing her attention back to Al.

“Hey. I need a favor from you, would you mind taking over today’s lesson? I’m not feeling very well…not exactly up to it today.”

She drops her plastered smile again. “You’re not sick or anything, are you?” she asks.

“No. I’m fine. There’s just a lot going on, I don’t think I could handle it right now.”

“Okay.” She says. “As long as you’re not sick. You can’t be gone tomorrow, it’s a big day.”

“Huh? What’s tomorrow?” She asks puzzled.

I watch as she stares at Allison in disbelief. “You’re kidding right?” she asks slowly.

“Umm…No. What’s going on tomorrow?”

“Allison! What is wrong with you?” she yelled in what I thought to be an extremely preppy voice. “Tomorrow’s the pep rally!” Okay, she’s confused me already. Allison and pep rallies…not a good mix.

“Look. I’m really not feeling well. Are you going to tell me what’s happening tomorrow or not?” Al snaps again. Apparently this Marissa person has never seen Als’…other side before.

She steps back a moment and eyes her before saying, “The pep rally…you know…that thing you’ve been planning for the last two months. The Believers Project…That thing YOU organized.”  
^ - ^  
We’re all standing in Amanda’s office trying to help out. Well okay. I’m trying to help out. Marissa is freaking out and pacing the floor muttering, “Oh my God…Oh my God…” occasionally. At least I’m trying to do something. Even if all I had to do was put a wet wash cloth on Als forehead. Amanda is out getting ice in the teachers lounge. Wasn’t the greatest of time to run out of ice.Well okay, here’s what happened. After Marissa said something about that Believers Project or whatever that is….Al went all pale, then green…then fainted. So after I was able to get Marissa to stop screaming, the two of us were able to carry her over here.

Amanda didn’t really believe Marissa’s overly dramatic tale of what happened, so she’s probably going to shoo her out and ask me when she gets back.  
I’m curious to know what this project is; does it have anything to do with what’s going to happen? It must have…it caused Al to faint. I guess she must know it’s tomorrow. I suppose I have to come clean about the letter then. The two of us hear a faint moaning sound and rush back over to the bed as Al starts to come back to earth. She slowly opens her eyes, squints, and then blinks a few times.

“Where am I?” she asks groggily.

“The nurse’s office.” Marissa answers.

“Umm…Why? What happened? I was talking to you then… I’m here.” Al says, lifting the wash cloth of her head and eyes curiously before setting it back down.

“Yeah….” I say. “That’s because you fainted.”

She blinks a few more times before answering. “Oh…Well…I guess that explains my massive headache.”

“Yeah…Sorry about that. You surprised us; we didn’t have enough time to catch you before you hit the ground.” I say, grimacing my apology, then lean in closer and whisper into Als ear, “Are you going to tell me what this Believers Project is or am I going to have to force it out of you?” I must have sparked her memory as to why she fainted in the first place as I watched her face start to change colors again.

Marissa sees this and yells at the top of her lungs, “Nurse!” much to everyone’s displeasure.

Amanda comes into sight (finally!) hurrying over with a bag of ice. “What? What’s wrong?” she asks looking at her then to Al. “Oh good. You're back.” She says, gently placing the bag on Al’s head.

“I think you should go to class now. Thanks for your help.” Amanda says to Marissa, motioning to the door with her arm.

“Fine.” She says, grabbing me by the arm after she moves toward the door and I didn’t follow. “She meant both of us.” She says half dragging me out.

“No. She stays.” Said Amanda.

“What? Why does she get to stay? I’m not leaving if she’s not!”

“Go!” Marissa sends me an evil glare before storming out. I walk back over, brushing my arm off for any pink contamination.

“What happened?” Amanda asks me as soon as I shut the door.

“I don’t know. Marissa said something about some…Believers Project and Al freaked out. She started changing colors then just…fell.” I say, glancing over at Al, who still looked pale. “Are you going to tell me what that is?” She sighs and begins biting on her thumb before taking a deep breath.

“It was a thing I planned for the Bible club during the pep rally. One at a time, they’re supposed to stand up and say their name and “I believe in God.” In front of everyone, if they wanted to. Then anyone could join in.”

“Oh. What’s so bad about that?” Amanda asked.

“Katie, don’t you remember the phone call? I’m supposed to stand up in front of everyone and say I don’t believe in God or else he will kill me! This is it! It’s tomorrow afternoon during the pep rally! I’m the president! I’m supposed to be the first one to start!” Now I understand why Al fainted.  
...

It’s already after third period and I still can’t figure it out! What did my dream mean? I know what the thirty hours meant…obviously. But the key? What was the key for? What does it go to? What does it have to do with any of this? And why am I stuck in Algebra when my best friend could be a murder victim tomorrow!

Finally! The bell rings and I’m up faster than anyone and out the door, not even bothering writing down the homework assignment. I’m on my way towards the five mile lunch line, but am suddenly thrown against a wall and held there by…Jaclyn.

”What are you doing? Are you crazy, get off me!” I yell, but am re-slammed against the wall even harder than before.

“What…did…you…do?!” she hisses at me.

“What are you talking about?” I yell, trying to get her hands away from my throat.

“Allison. What did you do to her?!” she yells at me.

“I didn’t do anything!”

“She left in the middle of World History crying!”

“Why do you think I had something to do with that?” I yell, offended at how she could think I was responsible for that. I mean yeah, we fight sometimes, but I haven’t done anything stupid besides that time at Bio camp. “Let me go!”

“I know something’s wrong! I’m not as oblivious as you two think I am!” she says, still full of rage. “There’s something you’re not telling me! What the hell is going on!?”

“Nothing.” I mumble looking past her towards the buildings.

“Look me in the eye and tell me there’s nothing wrong!”

“Look, I don’t want to get any more people involved.” Wrong answer. She slams me even harder against the wall.

“Does this have anything to do with those dreams you were having?” I don’t answer; I just stare at the ground. “Does it?” she yells again.

“Yes.” I mumble.

Y" "You’re going to tell me everything I don’t know. NOW!”

“No, it’s none of your business.” Big mistake. I feel a hand come up and slap me in the face.

“You idiot! How could you think that?! In case you haven’t noticed, she’s my friend too! You’re not the only one who cares about her!”Whoa, how very…Un-Jaclynish. She just admitted she had feelings. I’d bring it up, but she’d probably slap me again.

“Because I care about you! He’s watching us! I can’t drag you into this as well! I can’t put your life on the line because you want to know what’s going on!”

“Who is he?!” she screamed “Is Allison in danger?! Are you in danger?! Who’s watching us?!”

“I can’t tell you!” I yelled, noticing we were beginning to draw the attention of people near by. “Not here.” I whispered. She grabbed me by the neck of my shirt collar, threw me into an empty classroom and slammed the door behind us.

“What…is…going…on!?” she yelled again. “Who is watching us? Why are we in danger? And why is there a rumor going around that Al fainted this morning?”

“Because she did faint. I was with her when it happened.” I said, slipping down into a chair as I feel my energy fly away again.

“Why? What happened?”

“One question at a time. What do you want to know?” I ask, hating myself for putting Jaclyn in danger with us.

“Everything, start from the beginning.”

^ - ^  
Two hours, a missed lunch, class, and after being relocated to the bathroom, I finally got the whole story out.

“So let me get this straight…Allison’s dad is going to kill her if she doesn’t get onstage tomorrow and denounce God in front of a crowd of people. He’s also going to kill anyone who tries to get involved, and he’s been watching the two of you with video cameras hooked up in your rooms. Also he's been sending you death threats at your window and THIS…is what you’ve been dreaming about?”

“Yep. That pretty much covers it.” I say.

“And what exactly is the plan?”

“Well…we don’t exactly have one…yet. All we know is that His name is Ryan, he’s an electrician, and has really bad breath.”

“Oh great…like that’s going to help.” She says sarcastically. “Wake up! This is no time to sleep!”

“Sorry.” I say, forcing my eyes open. “We need to find a…key.”

“A key? What is that going to do?”

“I don’t know…unlock something.”

“Duh. But what? A door, a car, a house?”

“I don’t know.” I mumble, biting down on my bottom lip.

“Argh! What DO you know?”

“Nothing! That’s the problem! All I know is when, but it won’t do us any good if no one believes us! I’ve already called the police and they said they’d put extra security around here, but that’s it.”

“How do we know someone’s actually after her, besides your subconscious nighttime strolls. You’ve gotten a few letters, a couple phone calls. Any solid evidence here?”

“Trust me. Too many things have already happened to prove otherwise. How do you explain certain things I’ve dreamt about coming true? Like I dreamt Allison’s mom was going to tell her about her dad, and then it happened.”

“Fine. I’ll admit that was…creepy, but still.” She said, sliding down to the wet tiled floor underneath the row of sinks. “We need a plan. Maybe we could think of something after school.”

“Ugh. I Can’t. I have a doctor’s appointment after school.” I say, eyeing the dirty wet ground before hesitantly joining Jaclyn on it.

“A doctors appointment?! We might be dead in less then 24 hours! Can’t you get out of it?”

“No” I moan. “My mom doesn’t believe any of this. The only adult we have on our side is Amanda. And we’re lucky we have her.”

We both sit up as we hear foot steps coming closer and yanking open the bathroom door open. Uh-oh.  
...

“Back so soon are we Katie?” asks the school director, a balding middle aged man with a large gap between his two front teeth and a nose that looks as if it was broken a few times. “What are we in for this time?” he asks, looking down at the note on his desk. I sigh silently and sink down in the plastic chair in front of his desk, the chair I have become quite accustomed too.

Jaclyn on the other hand was fidgeting nervously in the chair besides me, obviously new to this position. I quickly glance over at her and she nervously glances back, twiddling her thumbs under the desk.

Really, it’s not that big a deal; get a lecture for a couple minutes, maybe a detention. We’ll live… through this anyway.

“Ditching class.” The director reads aloud. “I do not tolerate this kind of behavior. We have a no tolerance policy.” He says, getting up from his desk and walking toward the window. “Now, Katie, I believe you know what’s going to happen.” I nod, attempting to stay awake. “I’m not sure if your friend is up to date or not, but we have a policy here.” He said, stiffening up. “You are lucky right now; I’m going to let you off with just a detention, but next time, next time the punishment will be much more severe.”

“Okay. We’re sorry.” I say a bit too quickly.

“No. I wasn’t talking to you.” He snaps at me. “Jaclyn, is it?” She nods quickly. “Well then, Jaclyn, as I stated before, we have no tolerance policy for skipping class. I expect you to report in at 3:05 for detention. Now go to class, I need to have a word here with Miss. Devo." She nods, picks up her backpack, and flashes me a worried look before bolting for the door.

“Now, Katie.” He says after rummaging through a drawer full of folders, grabbing one, and setting it on his desk. “You know now what I have to do?”  
What is he talking about? Why didn’t he just give me another detention and shoo me away so he could play Minesweeper? “Don’t you remember?” he asks, raising his eyebrows.

“No.” I admit, annoyed at having to be in here in the first place.

“Three strikes, Katie. I believe we discussed this last time we met, did we not?” he asks, taking a seat in the leather chair facing me and folding his hands across the desk. Hmm…when was I in here last? About a month ago I think, wow, it’s already been a month? Well, I have been behaving better. But what did we talk about? How am I supposed to know, I don’t even know what I got in trouble for. Strikes…what did he say about strikes? Oh, I remember now, was he talking about me? I thought he was bragging about the baseball team. He said something about three strikes and I’m out. Sounds like baseball to me. I hope he doesn’t give me a detention, my mom’s going to kill me if I miss my doctor’s appointment because I got detention. Maybe if I just play nice, listen through his lecture and keep my mouth shut, he’ll let me off the hook. So what if I skipped, I had a good enough reason.

“I’m really sorry, I’ve just been really stressed lately, please, can you skip the detention, I have a doctor’s appointment after school, and my mom would kill me if I missed it.” I beg, putting on my best pathetic looking face.

“No.” he said after a moment.

“Well, then can I just serve it Monday or something?”

“No.” he repeats. “I think you're missing the picture.”

“What picture? It’s just a detention. It’ll have the same effect, no matter what day I have it.”

“Katie.” He said, sighing. “You’re not getting a detention.”

“Oh, okay.” I said, relief flowing from my voice.

“You’re getting expelled.”

“WHAT?!” I said, nearly jumping up from my chair. “You’re expelling me because I skipped class?!” He stares at me for a few seconds, as if confused, and then shakes his head.

“You think this is because you skipped class?”

“Well, yeah, I haven’t really done anything for a while, especially nothing that would come close to getting me expelled.”

“Well then.” He says in disbelief, bending down into a drawer and pulling out a brown paper bag and setting it on his desk. “I suppose you have no idea where any of this came from?” He says, placing a few items out from the bag onto the desk. My jaw dropping instantly as he pulls out a pack of cigarettes, half a bottle of Jack Daniels, a magazine, a tiny Ziplock bag with white powder inside(which reminds me of powdered sugar, I have a feeling that’s not it) a straw, and my brass knuckles.

“These” he said motioning with his hand at the items that he placed onto his desk, “Were found in your locker this afternoon during a random drug search. Are you going to tell me these aren’t yours?” he asked, somewhat annoyed. But they aren’t! I don’t even know what half of this stuff is.  
Okay, I’ll admit the knuckles were mine, but I’m not going to tell him that. Nothing else is.

“I have already called your mother; she is on her way to remove you from campus. Now I suggest you go clean out your locker and say good-bye to your friends. I have a feeling this is going to be the last time you see them for a very long time.” I don’t believe it! What’s going on?! I was in so much shock I didn’t even notice the school security guards standing behind me. I didn’t care that they practically had to pick me up and drag me away.

“Wait!” I called out. “What’s so bad about a magazine? My mom gets me those so I’ll be more girly or whatever.” I say, thinking it was one of those Seventeen magazines.

“Oh really.” He said doubtfully. “I do not believe your mother would buy you this” he said, lifting the cover towards me so I could catch a glimpse of some naked guy. Oh great…Porn. Didn’t need to see that. I wince as the security guards drag me out, ignoring my desperate pleas that that stuff wasn’t mine. Well…most of it anyway. They told me to sit in a chair while they talked to the principal alone. A minute had past and then two. I notice the secretary a couple feet away from me on the computer.

“So…Mr. Stinkly works part time doesn’t he?” I ask.

“Yes.” She says without looking up.

“Do you know if he has a second job?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know what it is?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?” I ask, starting to get annoyed.

“I’m not at liberty to say, I can’t give out personal information.”

“What am I possibly going to do with it? I was just curious.”

She sighs. “If you must know, he’s an electrician.”


	17. Chapter 17

They led me out of the office and informed me that I have ten minutes to clean out my locker, and get back to the office or I’ll be in more trouble than I’m already in.

“They can’t be serious!” I tell myself, trying to keep this overwhelming feeling of anxiety down that began to form in my stomach. Every second, a hollow pit growing larger as the reality of recent events began to sink in. I walk slowly over to my locker, taking my sweet time. “What are they possibly going to do to me?” I ask myself. “Expel me? No wait! They already did that.”

After walking to the entirely opposite end of school, I was tired. So tired that I didn’t notice the piece of paper sticking out of my locker at first. I just spun the lock around and opened it up. “Hmm…maybe I should ask for a dumpster?” I whisper to myself, staring at all the accumulated papers and trash. “Or possibly some latex gloves.”

“Here.” Says a man behind me that I assume to be the school janitor. “Looks like you could use this.” He wheels me over one of those trash cans on wheels.

“Thanks.” I mumble to him without looking up.

“Oh, and you have a piece of paper sticking out of your door.” He calls out as he leaves. Why does that voice sound familiar? I look up to see who it was, but he had already turned the corner. Oh well, probably no one. I ignore it and begin dumping everything into a trashcan. Old quizzes, homework, flyers, a two month old ham and cheese sandwich.

“I wish I had some gloves.” I moan as I continue dumping the contents of my (what used to be my) locker into the trash. (So that’s where I put my gym shorts!) I finally breathe a sigh of relief and exhaustion as I finally finish and step back to admire my work. That’s when I finally notice it. An envelope sticking out of the door. I yank it out, and sure enough, it was written in the same red ink, addressed to me. I open it up with trembling hands and read it, anger boiling over inside of me at its contents.

 

I Told You Not to Mess With Me!  
See What Happens When You Don’t Mind Your Own Business!  
Just Try to Save Your Friend Now!

He did it! I can’t believe it! He framed me! I form a fist and slam it against the locker door, and repeat the process until my hand couldn’t take anymore. How can I save Al if I’m not even allowed to come to school? He had it all planned out! This really sucks! Not only do I not get to see my friends anymore, one of them might not even live more than twenty-four hours, and the other one is too oblivious to notice I was ever gone. Not a good way to start off a new year. Hell, I might not even live when my mother gets through with me.

I sink to the ground and let my head fall to my knees. Why is this happening? I lift my head up and scream. “God! Why are you doing this?! Why are you trying to take my best friend away from me?! This doesn’t make any sense! Every time I get closer to solving it, he gets one step ahead of me! I’m doing my best! Really, I am! Stop making this more difficult!”

A couple heads pop out of the surrounding classrooms to see who was yelling, but I don’t care. It’s not like I could get in any more trouble. No matter what I do, my mom’s going to kill me. There’s no getting out of it. I might actually die before Allison, and then there would be no way to help her. Unless…

Unless I leave. Go to someone’s house, then maybe sneak back into school somehow tomorrow. I need to get away, if I’m not in school tomorrow, Al doesn’t stand a chance. I made up my mind, stuffed the letter in my pocket and pulled out my cell phone. I dialed Al’s number and hoped she would pick up. She doesn’t.

“Damn it!” I mumble as I send her a text message. “Meet me at your house. Now!” I write, then send it and don’t bother checking to see if she replied or not. I run as fast as I can, not stopping until I’m at least three blocks away. If it wasn’t for all the adrenaline pumping through me, I think I might have keeled over by the time I made it to the end of campus grounds. I pull out my cell phone again to check to see if Al had text me back yet.

“Why?” she asked.

“Just do it!” I write.

“I’ll see you after school.” She wrote back a little while later.

“Emergency! Now!”

“Fine. I’ll see you in ten.” That’s more like it.

^ - ^  
“What? What’s going on?!” she says after she finds me laying down on the front porch swing about to have a panic attack.

“Al.” I whisper. “I got expelled.”

“What!? What did you do?!” she asks, immediately getting on my case.

“Nothing!” I shout defensively. “I got framed! He put drugs and porn in my locker, then ratted me out! And I have a pretty good idea who!”

“What?! Don’t you dare accuse Mr. Stinkly of this!”

“Al, just because he is a teacher doesn’t mean he’s perfect! Everything is pointing to him!”

“So what if he has bad breath! Lot’s of people have bad breath! You can’t just go around and accuse him of being some cracked up homicidal maniac!”

“His breath isn’t the only thing that matches! He was at Bio trip! He was the one who sent the sheets, and guess what! I asked the secretary at school what his second job is. He’s an electrician!”

“No! H-he wouldn’t do something like that to me!” she stuttered. “It can’t be true!”

“Face it Al! Mr. Stinky’s our guy.” I said, trying to lower my voice. “Now are you going to help me help you or what? I need to hide here until tomorrow. My moms probably going to call, when she does, you haven’t seen me all day.” I said, laying back down on the swing. “Which reminds me.” I dug in my jacket pocket and pulled out my cell phone and turned it off. “I may need a disguise.”  
^ - ^

“Umm…are you sure about this.” Al asked doubtfully, staring at the picture of a blond on a box, then back at me. “You could always just wear a hat.”

“No, my red hair stands out too much, besides; I’ve always wanted to dye it.” Maybe not blond per say, but something. Blond is going to have to do though; it’s the only color Al’s mom has under her bathroom sink. “It’ll come out eventually.”

“Yeah.” She said sarcastically. “In six to eight weeks.”

“Oh well. I’ll survive.” I say, taking the box away from Al and reading the directions out loud. “Well…here goes nothing.” I say as I begin to apply the mixture.

 

^ - ^

 

WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

“It doesn’t look that bad.” Al says, trying to calm me down.

“Are you blind?” I say examining myself in the mirror and biting down on my bottom lip. There was a reason God didn’t make me blond; now I know why.

“I’m sure it’ll just take a little while to get used to. Besides, it accomplishes what you wanted it to do. No one will recognize you.”

“I guess.” I mumble, missing my red hair already. She’s right though. I mean, I barley even recognize myself.

“Well, help me clean this up before my mom gets home, she can’t know you’re here. We still need to hide you.”

“Hide me where?” I ask, trying to mop up the mess on the counter with a towel.

“Up there.” She said, pointing up to the attic.

“You’re going to put me in the attic?” I ask, eyeing the ceiling. “What if I fall through or something!”

“It’s a room; it’s just full of junk. You’ll be fine. Besides, it’s this, or your mom.”

“I’ll take the attic.”

“Well c’mon, my mom’s going to be here in like…ten minutes. We have to go get it ready.” She said while searching around the living room for something. “Here you’ll need this.” She handed me a giant, bulky, fan.

“What’s this for?”

“It’s like 100 plus degrees up there, trust me, you’ll need it.” Al says as she pulls out a chair from the kitchen, climbs on top of it and tries to pull the cord down while revealing a small ladder leading up into the darkness. I eye it hesitantly before climbing up, and with a small amount of difficulty, manage to get the fan up as well. “I have to go, my mom’s going to be home any minute, and she can’t know you’re here. Just stay up there for a little bit, and I’ll be back later.” She said and closed the door, locking me into complete darkness. I jerk up as I hear tiny squeaking noise. I begin to picture thousands of rats running along the floor.

Light! I need light! My cell phone has light! Should I risk it? What if my mom calls? If she calls, then I won’t answer, I’ve got caller I.D. Simple as that.  
I turn it on and wince as it immediately vibrates, letting me know I have new voicemail. Uh-oh. Three new voice mails actually.

I hesitate for a minute (maybe actually a couple minutes) before calling my voice mail. I grimace and hold the phone away from my ear, expecting to hear my mother screaming out death threats to me through the phone. But I don’t, I don’t hear anything. I suck in a breath and slowly bring the phone to my ear and breathe a sigh of relief as Jaclyn’s voice comes on the other end.

“Katie! What in the world is going on! Everyone’s looking for you! People are saying you got expelled! They even pulled me out of class to ask if I knew where you were! What did you do!? Never mind, not important, where in the world are you! Call me back!”

Wow, I didn’t think they’d notice I was gone so fast, let alone send a search party to look for me. I delete the message and instantly pull the phone away expecting my mom to be the next message to play. But once again, to my surprise, it wasn’t. It was Amanda, asking the same questions as Jaclyn, except she also wanted to know if I was okay, and wanted me to call her as soon as I got this message. I was so lost in thought I wasn’t paying attention and forgot to pull the phone away from my ear. The third and final message- my mother.

I cannot tell you what she said for fear of young children someday reading this; it is not for the faint of heart. R rated: for extreme language, death threats, and severe yelling. My ear drums, and her voice, will never be the same again. And I didn’t even get through the whole thing, half way through I deleted it for fear of Allison’s mom being able to hear the noise. After that message, I don’t think I can go back home. I’m not even sure if I’m even welcome home.

This is just wonderful.

I don’t know what I should do. Should I call them back and let them know I’m okay? (Jaclyn and Amanda I mean, there’s no way on earth I’m calling my mom) I should at least call Amanda and tell her about the note. She’ll believe me… I hope.

I begin to hear voices coming from downstairs. I guess Allison’s mom is home. I wonder what they’re saying. I strain to hear for a couple moments, but I can’t make anything out. Maybe if I just…No! I can’t. What if I get caught? “Maybe just a tiny bit, they won’t notice.” I tell myself as I get down on my hands and knees and lift the door open a crack. Air! Sweet wonderful air! Al wasn’t kidding about it being hot up here; it feels like it's ninety degrees at least. I’ve only been up for a couple minutes, but I’ve already begun to sweat. At least I can hear them now. Oh great, what do you know? There’re talking about me.

“Are you sure you don’t know where she is?” Als mom asks. “Her mom called me a couple minutes ago, asking if she was over here. I said I’d call her back when I got home.”

“I haven’t seen her since this morning when I – never mind.” Al said.

“What? Since when?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I uh- got sick at school this morning, but I’m better now.”

“You’re not coming down with anything, are you? You’ve been acting very strange these last few days, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I’ll be fine; I’ve just been a little stressed out lately.” Al said.

“Oh? Trouble at school?”

“You could say that.” She mumbles. “So…why is everyone looking for Katie?” she asked, trying to change the subject.

“You didn’t hear?”

“Hear what? What happened?” she asked, trying to play innocent. She needs some work on that.

“Katie got expelled.” Her mom said, sounding disappointed. “Now let me ask you something, did you know Katie did drugs, because if you did, and didn’t tell anyone, you are in so much-“she began, sounding threatening.

“Mom, settle down. Katie doesn’t do drugs.”

“So she didn’t tell you.” Al’s mom said, cutting her off, sounding tired. “It’s a shame how people can get caught up with that, Katie of all people! She was always up to no good, but I didn’t think she’d take it that far. She didn’t try to get you into it did she?”

“MOM!” Al said raising her voice in annoyance. “I told you, Katie doesn’t do drugs!”

“Allison.” Her mom said, dropping her voice. “They found drugs in her locker, and apparently a bunch of other stuff as well.” She says, and then goes quiet for a minute. “Now. I don’t want you hanging out with her anymore, and don’t even start. I don’t want you hanging out with people like that. And by the sound of the phone call I had with her mom, I don’t think she’s going to see the light of day for a long, long time.”

Great. I’m not coming down. Ever.

“Mom! How could you think she would do something like that!? You know her! That stuff wasn’t hers!” she yells in my defense.

“You do not use that kind of voice with me! Do you understand?! I don’t know what has gotten into you these last few days, but I’m sick of it!” Her mom yells back “What’s next? Are you going to go out and get in trouble every other day now? Going to call and tell me you’ll be late getting home because you’re in detention?! Huh? She’s a bad influence on you anyway, weren’t you the one always complaining about how she made fun of you for your beliefs?”

Silence. Pure, awkward silence. Oh yeah, and anger. Lot’s of that, from me anyway. My right hand is curled in a fist and the other clamped over my mouth to keep me from yelling out in response.

“She doesn’t do that anymore.” Al mumbles, but it doesn’t sound as if it’s from being defeated. Guess I’m not the only one who’s pissed. “So what if she gets in trouble more then I do; that doesn’t make her a bad friend! Half the fights she gets into is because she was defending me in the first place! She doesn’t do drugs, she doesn’t drink and she doesn’t smoke! That’s my best friend you’re talking about; you can’t tell me I can’t hang out with her anymore because of something she didn’t do in the first place!” Al half yells, half cries.

“I am your mother, I can tell you to do whatever I want. You’re not going to see her, you’re not going to talk to her and that’s final! And I don’t care what you’re going through, you will not speak to me that way again. Do you understand?!”

“Katie is not the type of person you think she is! She’s risking her life to help me save mine! If that’s not a friend than I don’t know what is.” Al says through tears. “Oh, and by the way, she got saved last week!” she yells before storming off to her room.

I silently close the door and roll over onto my back, staring up at the darkness. I can’t believe she would stick up for me like that. I really hope tomorrow works out and whoever responsible is caught. Then Al would be…alive, and acting like her normal hyper self. I would get my name cleared, my mom would realize that stuff wasn’t mine and it would be safe for me to come back home. Oh and yeah…I’d get un-expelled, if that’s possible. Hmm…if this doesn’t work out, does this mean I won’t graduate from high school? I’ll worry about my high school diploma later, I need to make sure Al’s okay. But how? I roll back over and open the door up a little.

“Allison. Come out.” Her mom says, still sounding angry.

“No!”

“Will you at least unlock the door?”

“No! Go away!”

“Fine! Stay in there for all I care!” her mom yells. I hear a door slam across the hall. Hmm…she went into her room. Does this mean it’s safe to come down? I wait a few moments and hear nothing. Okay, I’m coming down, I really need to talk to Al…and use the bathroom.  
Note to self: Go to bathroom before willingly hiding in an attic for unknown periods of time.

I quietly lift the lid up, throw my legs over and hop down, the lid coming down with a crash. Uh-oh. I hold my breath and pray no one heard that. A couple moments go by, but no one comes out to investigate. Once I start breathing again, I tip-toe over to Al’s room and try the door. Locked.  
I knock softly, but to no reply. I wish I had a hair pin, wait, does that even work? Oh well. I examine the lock for a second, and find that it looks pretty old. I reach into my pocket and pull out my school I.D. Ugh, what a horrible picture, I shudder to myself as I slip it through the crack and jiggle it up and down a few times while trying the door knob. I wonder why she doesn’t hear this. Click.

Wow, I can’t believe that actually worked. I quickly slip inside and close and lock the door behind me. I look over to her bed and find her lying facedown on it with her mp3 player on full blast.

“Al?” Nothing. “Al.” I say louder. Nothing. Hmm…what should I do? If I touch her, she’ll jump five feet in the air and scream bloody murder. In any other situation, I wouldn’t hesitate and would probably fall to the floor laughing. We always do that to each other. But I can’t afford to get caught, and plus, I’m not that mean. Maybe if I just throw something at her… I look around and notice a pillow on the floor. I pick it up and lightly chuck it at her.

“Go away.” She moans into her bed.

“Al, it’s me.” I say, still trying to keep my voice down. Damn it, she can’t hear me. I walk over and tap her on the shoulder, she moans and rolls over, facing me. She then jumps up and yanks the headphones out of her ears.

“What are you doing here.” She hisses at me.

“Making sure you’re alright.” I whisper back.

“What do you mean? I’m fine.” She says, denying the whole thing. She is never going to be an actress for a living.

“I overheard what happened.” I say softly.

“I’m sorry you had to hear that, but you can’t stay in here, if she catches you, we’re both dead.”

“In a minute.” I say as I join her on the bed. “Thanks for sticking up for me.” She doesn’t say anything for a minute; we just sit there in silence for a while.

“My mom’s just being… I don’t know, just forget what you heard. Besides…why were you listening?”

“You left me in an attic to die, I was bored, I heard someone say my name…and it was really hot. I needed air, so I just kind of…popped the top a little.”

“Well, now you know what happens when you eavesdrop on people.”

“Ugh. Will this day ever end?” I moan, falling down on the bed.

“Eh. I don’t mind, it can stay as long as it wants to. I don’t want it to be tomorrow.”

“Remind me again why you can’t just skip school. Because if you’re afraid he’ll think you’re a chicken or something, I got to tell you, it’s not so bad, I should know. I’ve been hiding in your attic for the last hour and a half instead of at home facing my mom.”

“Because, he won’t leave just because I don’t show up. He will come after me.”

“How do you know that?”

She sighs deeply, and then gets up and goes through a drawer and pulls out a couple envelopes. “You’re not the only one who gets these.” She says waving them in the air.

“Why did you never show me these before?” I ask, leafing through them.

“Because yours at least gave us some clues, mine were just saying things like ‘You can’t run from me!’ ‘I can’t wait until we meet!’ ‘Tired yet?’ Just really weird things.”

“Why does he keep asking that?” I ask, while reading the notes.

“Asking what?”

“He keeps asking you if you’re tired. He’s sent you a text message, a phone call, and a letter asking the same thing.”

“Oh. I never noticed that before. That’s weird. Ugh. We need more clues.”

“Yeah…and I need a nap.” I say, yawning.

“Will you stay awake, this is important, we can’t have you sleeping at a time like this!” she says annoyed, then brightens up. “Actually, that’s it! You DO need to take a nap.”

“Huh?” I ask, yawning again.

“We need another dream out of you.”

“Yay. Does this mean I get to sleep?”

“Yep.”

“Yay…but you know…umm…these are my only clothes.”

“So?”

“Well…you know what happens when I fall asleep.” I say, my face going red.

“Oh right, sorry.” She says, getting up and digging through a drawer. “Here you can have these, they don’t even fit.” She says, throwing me an old pair of shorts. Then she throws me a beach towel. “It’s to lay on, the grounds super dusty up there.”

“Thanks.” I say, and then stop, suddenly feeling a breeze in the room. We both look at each other then race towards the window. Just as we suspected, a new note. Addressed to Allison.

 

The Key To Your Life Rests in Your Hands!

“What the hell?” we both ask, reading it. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“This guy’s on crack or something.” Al said, throwing the letter down in frustration.

“No, actually, he’s on cocaine. That’s what he put in my locker anyway.” I say, picking the letter up off the floor.

“Figures. Well c’mon; you have to go before you get caught. And this time, will you lay off the eavesdropping?”

“Yeah, okay.” I say, about to open the door, but Al stops me.

“Wait a sec. Look at this. It was in the envelope.” Al said, holding up something shiny. A key. I stare at it a moment, then frown. “What’s wrong?” she asks.

“It’s not the same key from my dream.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it was yellow, this one’s white.” I say, continuing to stare at it.

“All of this is giving me a headache.” Al said, messaging her head and leading the way out the room. She grabbed a chair again and opened up the door to the attic.

“Hold on.” I said, and raced over to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and almost screamed. Oops, forgot I was a blond now. When I came back, Al was leaning against the ladder, examining the key in her hands and biting her lip to the point of making it bleed.

“Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out.” I say as I begin to ascend the stairs.

“I hope you’re right.” She says nervously. I hope I’m right too.

I open my cell phone and use it to help guide my way around the darkness. After picking out a spot on the floor, and checking and re-checking about five times for spiders, I turn on the fan and lay down. What else is there to do up here but sleep?

“God.” I whisper. “Help us get through this. This is getting more out of control by the minute. What do these letters mean? Who is responsible for all this? Is this all going to work out in the end, is that why I’m having these nightmares? Can you just, reveal a bit more tonight? Please help me put all the pieces together.” I roll over onto my side, letting the fan blow into my face. It feels so good; I could almost fall as-…


	18. Chapter 18

A clock reading 1:00 flashes before me in my mind. Attached to it are wires, lots and lots of wires. Around it is darkness, the bright red light illuminating a small section around it. I can hear someone crying, but it sounds muffled, like something was covering their mouth. Is it a boy or girl I wonder? Where is it coming from? I hear it again; its close, like it was in the room. Is this even a room? It seems so cramped, like a box or something. I strain my eyes to be able to see who it is, but I can’t see anything, it’s too dark. I look at the strange looking clock and the light around it -there! There’s a leg next to it, and there’s the other…but they’re tied up with something. Looks like duct tape. I still can’t see who it is though, or where this is.

Suddenly there is blinding light all around me, I hold my hand over my eyes, trying to block out the sunlight. I’m standing in the middle of the teachers’ parking lot, starring at an old, beat up, white Nissan. I want to open it; I want to open it so bad, but why? I need the key, I wish I had it. I clench my fists and notice something in my right hand. An envelope. Once again addressed to me in the same red ink, the same lettering. I slide my finger under the edge and tear it open.

 

The Key to Your Friends Life   
Rests in Your Hands!

Oh great, another riddle. Wait. Al’s note said something like that. Except, didn’t it say the key rested in her hands? Why is it suddenly in my hands now? I dig in the envelope and pull out a key, but it’s not the same white key. It’s the big yellow one again. What am I supposed to do with this?

What was that? I could’ve sworn I just heard someone moaning. Where is that coming from? I look around everywhere, but there’s no one here. Just me and…the car! It’s coming from the car, I know it is! I hurry forward, but then stop, now what’s that sound? A faint beeping, coming from the car. I walk forward and peek in through the windows. It’s empty, really empty. There’s nothing in it, no trash, no valuables…nothing. That’s kind of weird.   
Where is that beeping coming from? I walk around and finally figure out it’s coming from the trunk. Just when I was about to try to lift the trunk door, that’s when I hear it. An extra loud beep, an extremely loud bang and then silence and blackness.

“Go to the bathroom before bed!”

“Katie!” someone hisses at me. I manage to open my eyes and prop myself up on my elbows to see who’s calling me.

“What’s up Al?” I ask groggily.

“I’m going to school.” She says.

“Huh? What time is it? How long was I asleep for?”

“Since like 5 P.M. yesterday. You sure can sleep; it’s already 7:30 in the morning.”

“I’m going with you!” I say, trying to force myself up, but suddenly start feeling weak and dizzy.

“No! The last thing we need is you getting caught! The Pep Rally’s at 2 so come around one-thirty at at my locker. And do try your hardest not to get caught” She says, keeping back a laugh. “Besides, my moms already left for work, you can come down now, and …take a shower. You…uhh…need one.”

“Ugh…” I moan, looking down to what she was laughing about. “I’ll be so happy when THAT’S over with.”

“Well…let’s just get through today.” Al mumbles, turning white at the thought.

“Hey, Al, do you still have that key?”

“Yeah…why?”

“Can I have it? I have a feeling I’ll…need it.”

“Umm okay…it’s in my room, I’ll go get it.” She said, turning around and climbed back down the stairs. I threw off the wet clothes and pulled my jeans back on.

A second later she re-emerged holding the shiny, white, key. “I should probably go now.” She said after a moment of silence. No! I don’t want her to leave! What if this is the last time I ever see her? Al seems to read my mind. “Don’t worry, I’ll be okay.” She says, trying to reassure me, not doing a very good job. 

She has to be okay I tell myself. What would I do without her? Who would I hang out with after school? Watch movies with? Have sleep overs with? No one, that’s who. Oh, sure there’s Jaclyn…but she’s not Al.

“Don’t go.” I manage to squeak out, just as she was about to climb back down the steps. She walks back over and tries again to tell me that she will be fine, but I don’t hear her. I pull her into a hug, and she instantly shuts up.

“I really have to go.” She says, stepping back and wiping her eyes on her sleeve a couple minutes later. “Remember. 1:30 at my locker.” She says, giving me one last wave, then descends the stairs and leaves me in the dark by myself. An empty hole gnaws at my stomach; I miss her already. I’ll see her again I tell myself. Nothing is going to happen until after the pep rally, and I’m meeting her before, a half-hour before. We’ll figure something out then. 

We always do.

............................. .....................  
Tears start to slide down my face just thinking about it. I need to take my mind off this; I need to go do something. A shower. Maybe that will clear my head.

Nope, not even that helped. Although I do feel much better getting out of that Easy-bake-oven up there. Maybe things will work I say to myself as I lay down on the couch in the living room. I close my eyes for a second, but quickly open them as my pocket begins to make noises. Uh-oh…I forgot to turn my cell phone off. I glance at the number, expecting it to be my mom, but to my relief, it wasn’t. It was Amanda. I quickly make a decision and answer it. (I never thought I’d be using “Quickly” and “Decision” together in the same sentence when referring to myself.)

“Hello.” I say, sounding a bit too nervous for my liking.

“Katie! I’m so glad you picked up. Everyone is wondering what happened to you! Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where are you?” she says too quickly for me to understand.

“Whoa, slow down. What’s going on?”

“You just disappeared yesterday. Katie, is it really true you got expelled?” she asks.

“Yeah.” I say, anger coming out in my voice. “That guy put it in there! Ryan did this! None of that stuff was mine!” (Well okay, most of that stuff wasn’t mine.)

“Where are you?” she asks, making no response about him putting that stuff in my locker. I guess it was obvious.

“I’m hiding.” I say, not about to tell anyone where I was.

“Do you have any new information? Did you have any new nightmares? Anything at all?”

“Yeah. I dreamed about a funny looking clock, and a beat up, white, Nissan that was making funny noises.”

“That’s all?” she says, sort of impatiently. What’s her problem?

“Yeah.” I say, racking my brain for anything else.

“Are you sure that’s it. Nothing else?”

“Oh. And a key. I dreamed about a key.”

“Yes. You already told me about dreaming about a key. A little white one. Where exactly are you hiding?”

“I can’t say. I don’t want to get caught.”

“Are you coming to the school today?”

“Look. I have to go. Watch after Al for me.” I say, not completely wanting to give about my whereabouts or say whether or not I’m going to try to sneak into school to a staff member. What if she tells someone?

“Katie! Don’t hang up! Katie!” she yells. Too late, I hit end and lay back down. Who is Ryan? The only person I can think of is Mr. Stinky. He’s about the same age, looks kind of like him; take off his wig (if he wears one) and the make-up on his arm covering the tattoo. I'm sure it would look just like him. And to top it all off, he is an electrician. It completely links him. I can’t think of anyone else who matches the description more perfectly. Still…it creeps me out…Mr. Stinky being Allison’s dad? It’s enough to give anyone nightmares. He’s not even my dad and he’s giving me nightmares.

I glance over at the clock, which now reads 11:53. I still have an hour and a half to kill. Okay, wrong expression to use at a time like this.Should I get something to eat I wonder? No, the butterflies in my stomach won’t let me eat anything. Butterflies? No. No. No. These aren’t butterflies fluttering around in there. Maybe giant wasps. What am I doing? I’m pacing. I’m just going to tire myself out before I even get there.

Let me tell you something, that hour and-a-half was the longest hour-and-a-half of my life! Felt like I was in that house for hours trying to think of a plan. And do you know what I figured out? NOTHING! I’m no closer to figuring this out than when I started!  
............................. .........................

Okay, it's 12:55, I can’t stay here anymore! So what if I’m going to be a little early, it’s better than sticking around here. I grab my cell phone and bolt out of the house. I walk slower the closer I get, replaying everything in my mind. What was with Amanda? A little stressed are we? So what if I already told her about the dream with a key in it, it was a completely different dream. I can’t remember who I told what, I don’t even remember telling her about that dream. Maybe I did, I probably just can’t remember. Stress can do that. What else is more stressful than the possibility of losing your best friend in the next couple of hours? Not much.

I manage to sneak in no problem…it was almost…too easy. Oh well, security guards probably on one of his many coffee breaks. After all, sitting around all day doing nothing can be very, very difficult. I make my way through the empty campus, classes must still be still in. I begin to shake. Why am I shaking? I continue to walk farther away from the entrance, becoming increasingly anxious. No! Not now! It can’t happen now! I suck in my breath and run. I run as hard and fast as I can, my nerves increasing with every step. What if I’m too late? What if he’s already gotten to her? I’m at the corner, but I waste no time.

“Don’t hurt her!” I yell as I run around the corner to find myself face to face with…an empty hallway. 

Nice job.

“Katie,” I hear someone whisper behind me as a hand reaches out and touches my shoulder. I scream and spin around.

“Calm down, jumpy. It’s just me.” Al says, paler than I’ve ever seen her before. I guess she didn’t have much of a better day than I did.

“Are you okay?” I ask, taking a step back just in case she decides to puke.

“I guess,” she mumbles, sliding her hands down her face.

“Are you going to go through with this?” I ask, already knowing the answer.

“Of course I am.” She says. “I-Is he going to…do it once I finish, or should I finish and then run like hell?”

“No.” I say after a moment of thought. “I don’t think it’s going to be like that. All my dreams took place here. Except last night though, last night was different. It took place in the parking lot and there was this weird clock that said 1:00 on it.” 

“But it’s already 1:25 right now.” Al says, after looking down at her watch. “Was it like, one in the morning or something?”

“I don’t think so. It was completely dark though, but it was also cramped and there was someone there. And then a couple minutes later, it was completely bright outside.” I said to myself more so than to Al. “And what’s the deal with the keys?”

“Keys? What do you mean 'keys?' We have just the one.”

“Yeah, but I keep dreaming about a different one, a big yellow one. Not this tiny white one, it doesn’t even look like it goes to a door.”

“Weird,” Al mumbles, biting down on her finger nails. “Ugh, I have to go.” She moans, looking back down at her watch.

“What? Why?”

“I have to go get ready for the presentation, and you have to hide before the bell rings.” She said, turning even paler. “During the rally, look around for anyone suspicious, there might be one or more people involved.”

“Okay.” I croak. ” Will I see you before the rally?”

“I don’t think so.” She whispers. We stay silent for a moment, both of us understanding what this might mean. This could be the last time we see each other. “It won’t be.” She says quietly.

“I hope you're right.” As I was about to hug her good-bye, the worst scenario happened. Marissa.

“Allison! There you are! We’ve been waiting for you.” Marissa shouts out as she comes bounding forward towards us. I quickly stick my head in Al’s locker, pretending to be deeply interested in a five year old piece of gum that has been permanently stuck to the inside.“Come on! You’re ten minutes late!” Marissa whines, paying no attention to my existence.

“Give me a minute; I need to say good-bye to my friend.” Al says, attempting to break free from Malibu Barbie’s death grip. Marissa looks up and notices me standing there, now holding a book in front of my face.

“Who’s your blond friend?” she asks, giving me the quick up and down glance.

“This is…uhh.” Al stammers.

“You’ll see her later.” Marissa says, dragging Allison away by the arm.

“I hope so.” I whisper to myself as I peak over the top of the book and watch as she’s dragged away by Malibu Barbie. Al glances back at me and weakly smiles. I wave back as she turns the corner and vanishes out of sight.

I stand there alone, silently praying I’d see her again. I look up as the bell rings and kids begin to pour out of the classrooms next to me. Uh-oh I better go before someone recognizes me. I hold the book back up to my face and bury myself into it as I try to walk past unnoticed.   
It was going pretty good too, until a hand came out of nowhere and grabbed me by the shirt collar while pulling me into a empty classroom.

“What do you think you’re doing? Where have you been? What happened and WHAT IN THE WORLD DID YOU DO TO YOUR HAIR?!” Jaclyn shouts at me, ripping the book from my hands.

“How did you know it was me?” I ask, disappointed at my failed attempt at remaining unnoticed. 

“Don’t think I couldn’t recognize you, and besides, blond suits you better. It’s your true hair color.”

“Huh? What do you mean? I look horrible as a blond!”

“I never said anything about looks.” She mumbled under her breath.

“What are you talking about?” I ask, still confused.

She sighs. “Katie, no matter what your hair color is, you will always be a true blond. You are the only person I know who will walk around pretending to read the dictionary UPSIDE DOWN!” Whoops. That was smooth.

“Are you going to tell me what’s happening or what? People are saying you got expelled because someone caught you snuffing lines of cocaine in the bathroom yesterday.”

“Umm…no. I got expelled because Allison’s dad put cocaine in my locker, and a bunch of other stuff.”

“Do you know who he is yet?”

“I have a good feeling it's Mr. Stinky. Yesterday while I was in the office, the secretary told me Mr. Stinky’s second job. He just happens to be an electrician. And to top it all off, he was at the biology trip with us.” I say bitterness rising in my voice. “Let’s not forget that episode in detention, who knows what I was yelling, that’s what probably tipped him off about me in the first place.”

“So what are we going to do?” she asks.

“We?”

“Duh. You think I’m going to leave you to deal with this by yourself? You’re crazy.”

“But it will be dangerous, and you’d get in trouble if you’re caught with me.”

“So what? You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” It was at that moment a new appreciation of Jaclyn sprung into me. I could definitely use some help figuring this out.

“Fine.” I say, giving in. “Help me secure the perimeter.”

“Huh?”

“During the pep rally, look out for anything suspicious. Especially angry, bald men with guns.”

“That’s it?” she asks sounding a bit disappointed.

“I don’t even know what to do. My guess would be to just try and keep her away from Mr. Stinky.”

“So…we are pretty much Allison’s bodyguards?”

“Guess so.”

“Sweet. So what do I do if I find anything suspicious?”

“Call my cell phone. Or call Amanda’s. She’s the only one with the power to actually do anything about it.” I say, giving her the number. “It’s starting,” I say as the National Anthem begins to play over the loud speaker. We make our way over to the gym as one of the teachers was making their usual speech of how great this school was and don’t use drugs.

“We’ve already had to expel one of our students the other day; it was a very painful decision to make, but it had to be done.” They said. Oh, tell the whole world why don’t you. A few heads turn to whisper to one another. I shake off my anger and manage to get a seat in the bleachers high enough to see the whole crowd. I constantly search as they introduce the schools football team. I’ve never been so happy the school had a football team. And then, the moment came.

“Alright, settle down. We have a special presentation from the Bible club next. They’ve worked very hard on this. Now I believe they’re here to say a few words first.” He said, looking to his side as a very pale Allison stumbled forward.

“H-hi everyone.” She stuttered, then stopped, took a deep breath and then started again. For someone who might possibly die in the next couple of hours, I thought she handled it pretty well. No one would have noticed anything was wrong, nothing more than a mild case of stage fright anyway. “So what we’re trying to do,” Al said wrapping it up. “Is for people to step out and not be afraid to admit their faith. What we’re going to do is a little exercise. Anyone can, if they want to, say it right now. What you’re going to do, is stand up one at a time, say your name, and then say ‘I believe in God.’” She stops for a moment to catch her breath and then continues a little less confidently. “Watch, I’ll start.” Another pause. I’m hanging on to the edge of my seat, my heart feels as if it might come out my mouth, and my hands are soaking wet. This is it, this is the reason I’ve been having nightmares. She’s going to do it!

“My name is Allison Walltz…and I believe in God.”

She did it! She actually did it! Now get off the stage! Al’s eyes wander through the crowd as a few people do it. Her eyes meet mine and I motion with a hand for her to get off the stage. She quickly walks down and out the gym, Mr. Stinky in close pursuit. Oh no you don’t! I quickly stand up and make my way down the sea of kids. Not an easy task.

“Watch it!” one girl yells as I accidentally step on her hand. She looks at me, and then smiles an evil grin. Assyla. “Now what are you doing here?” She mocks. “You know…I could turn you in right now and there isn’t a thing in the world you could do to stop me.” I freeze. She’s right, if she turns me in now, there’s no way I can save Al. She has me in her hands and she knows it. Al’s fate rests in the hands of a girl who thinks Buffalo wings come from actual buffalo. 

“Please don’t.” I beg.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t.” This can’t be good.

“Because if you turn me in now, Allison will be killed by her psychopath of a father because I won’t be here to save her.” I say, just sticking to the truth, as far out there as it might be.

“Oh teacher,” she says, not loud enough for one to come near, but loud enough to make me nervous. I bite down on my lip and think for a second. I can’t believe I’m doing this, but I’m desperate.

“Because you’ll never find a slave in time to do your History report.” I say, getting more worried the more seconds pass by wasted. She eyes me for a second.

“Go on.”

“Now that I’ve been kicked out of school, I don’t have any more homework. Keep your mouth shut and that Vietnam paper will take care of itself.” She grins at me one more time before she turns back around and I bolt out the door, stepping on a few more hands in the process.

Ahhhhh!!!!!!!! I don’t see them anywhere! How much time did I waste negotiating with Assyla? Wait! I know where they are! No! Please don’t be there! Maybe they just went to his classroom. I try and run as fast as I can over to the History room and stop to catch my breath. Why am I so tired? This is no time to be tired! I yank open the door and march right up to Mr. Stinky’s desk. Forget not being noticed, this is war!

“Can I help y-“he began, and then frowned. “Katie, what are you doing here?” he sighs. I ignore him. 

“What did you do to her?!” I scream at him. “Where is she?”

“Where is who?” he asks in the same bored voice as if he was lecturing me on the importance of the Mongolian Empire. “What are you talking about? And why are you here? You know you’re not allowed near campus. I have every reason to pick up this phone and report you.”

“Shut up!” I yell in response, which he quickly does. “You don’t fool me for a second! What did you do with her?”

“What are you talking about? Are you on drugs right now?” he asks, trying to play all innocent.

“You know what I’m talking about! What did you do to Allison?! And don’t even talk to me about drugs, look who’s talking! Mr. coke planter!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I have a feeling I don’t want to know, if it ends up anything like the last time you were on drugs.”

“I DON’T DO DRUGS!” I yell at him. He ignores me and continues.

“As for your friend, I did nothing to her. She just left a few minutes ago to put something away in her locker; you can go check for yourself. Once you do, get out of here! If I see you again, I will call security! Got it?” I stare at him for a moment. Should I trust him? No. But if I don’t leave he’ll call security.

“Fine.” I say before I bolt out the door. I run as fast as I can over to Al’s locker, but she’s not there. No one is. I begin to panic. Where is she?! What did Mr. Stinky do to her? I’m quickly brought back down to earth as my cell phone rings. This is not the time for my mom to call and scream at me! But it wasn’t my mom. I glance down at the caller I.D, but all it said was restricted number. 

“Hello?” I answer.

“I have your friend.” says a cold hard voice on the other end. A voice I immediately recognize as Ryan.

“What have you done with her? Where is she?!” I yell

“She’s fine…for now anyway. It depends really, on you.”

“What do you mean it depends on me?”

“Are you any good at scavenger hunts?” he asks.

“What does that have to do with anything?” I ask angrily. 

“Everything, you see. We’re going to play a little game. You win, your friend goes free, you lose, and you both die.”

“You’re crazy!” I yell.

“Is that a no? Because if it is, I can just kill her right now.”

“What do I need to do?”

“You need to find keys. I believe you have the first one.” I stick my hand in my pocket of my jeans as my fingers wrap around a hard metal object. 

“Good,” he says after I don’t respond. “She’s in the trunk of my car. Find the right key to unlock it and get her out.” That doesn’t sound so bad. “Oh,” he continues. “Don’t try to pick the lock, it’ll only make the bomb go off sooner.”

“Bomb?” I squeak.

“Yes. There is a bomb in the trunk with her.” He said sounding amused. “Now, you will have three rules. Don’t pick the lock, don’t use the wrong key, and don’t run out of time, or else it’s game over.” He pauses and waits for my reaction, but I don’t say anything. “The first one’s easy. It’s where your records are kept. How you manage to get to them is up to you. I have to go now, remember, have fun!” he said and then added. “Oh, by the way, you only have an hour.” 

Click.


	19. Chapter 19

I stand there motionless for a moment stunned, cell phone still in hand as I try to digest everything. I glance at the clock 2:12, which means the bombs going to blow at 3: 12! I pull out the key from my pocket and re-examine it. What was it that he said? It’s where my records are kept. What did he mean by ‘How I manage to get them is up to me.’?” Then it hits me, he was talking about my school records! Those are…in the principals’ office! The key goes to the filing drawer. But how am I going to be able to get into the principals office? It’s not like I can just go up there and ask him, I’m not even allowed to be here. What I need is-

“Katie! There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Jaclyn says as she comes running over to me. A distraction.

“Jaclyn, I’m so glad you’re here! I need your help!" I say as I guide us over to the administrators building and explain to her the situation.

“You want me to do what?” she asks in disbelief.

“I need a distraction, and you said you wanted to help. I just need you to go over and get him out of his office for a few minutes.”

“How do I do that though?”

“I don’t know, tell him you want to show him something.” I say before ducking behind the counter and motioning for her to go for it. I watch as she hesitantly goes over and knocks on the door.

“Come in” says a voice on the other side.

She opens the door and says, “Actually Sir, you need to come with me.”

“Why? Is there a problem?” he asks.

“Yes, there is, but I can't tell you, I’d have to show you.”

“Is this necessary?” he asks.

“Yes, very.”

“Alright, you have five minutes.” He says before getting up and walking out while closing the door behind him. I watch as they walk around the corner and out of sight before springing into action. I quickly slip in, lock the door behind me, and head straight for the filing system. The key unlocks it as I suspected and peer inside.

Where is it?! I don’t see it anywhere! It’s just a bunch of folders. Could it be in one of them? Duh! Of course, mine! I breeze through all the names until I come across mine and yank it up and open. Oh my God..it's huge. Have I really gotten in trouble that many times? There, sitting inside was a white envelope with my name on it. I grab it and stuff the folder back in the drawer as I hear footsteps coming closer and the doorknob jiggles. Ahh! I got to get out of here. I search around for a window to climb out of, but there are no windows.

“I could’ve sworn I left the door unlocked.” I hear from outside. I hear keys jingle and I quickly duck under his desk right as the door opens. He comes in and sits down on his big leather chair and pulls in, his knees barely missing my face.

This isn’t good. If he catches me, I’m dead. If I stay here to long, me and Al are going to be dead. What am I going to do? I’ve already been under here for five minutes! Right as I figure I better turn myself in, I begin to smell it. Smoke! At that moment one of the secretaries burst in.

“Sir! Someone set one of our trashcans in the office on fire!”

“What?” he yells and jumps up and hurries out the door. I hold my breath and wait ten seconds before crawling out. I peek my head around and see Jaclyn motioning for me to get out! Don’t need to tell me twice. I jump up and run out as fast as I can and we both run out of the office until we are at least three buildings away.

“That was close.” She says.

“Yeah! If it wasn’t for that fi-“I was about to say then gasp. “You did it! You started the fire!”

“Yeah, well, I started to freak out when you didn’t come out after he came in. I had to do something.” She says holding a small pack of matches in her hand. “Snatched them off of the secretary’s desk.” She says before I can ask. “What’s in the envelope?” she asked, drawing my attention back to it.

“Oh,” I say as I quickly rip it open.

 

Feel sick? Say Ahh!

“Huh?” we both ask as we re-read it through a couple times. I look in the envelope and pull out another small white key.

“It goes to a drawer.” I say.

“It’s in Amanda’s office!” Jaclyn shouts.

“How do you know that?” I ask.

“It’s talking about getting your temperature taken. C’mon.” she says as she leads us back into the office as we watch them stomp the trashcan fire out with their feet. We walk past and into Amanda’s office, but she’s not there. I walk over to a drawer and unlock it, but there isn’t a thermometer in there. Just a first aid kit.

“Try another one.”

I stick the key into the next drawer and we both stare at it for a moment. About fifty packs of gum, mints, Listerine pocket packs, and mouth wash.

“Hurry up, open the last one.” She says. I close it and open up the last one. There sitting on top was the thermometer. I pick it up and open it, then look at the pieces.

“Look,” Jaclyn says, pointing to the cover. I look in it and notice an envelope stuffed inside. I pull it out and put everything back as we hurry out before we’re caught.

“Open it.” Jaclyn urges me. I tear it open and read the note inside.

 

Under the doormat  
But which door?

 

“He’s got to be kidding!” Jaclyn says, reading it. There’s got to be hundreds of doors around here. There isn’t enough time to check them all! How much time do we even have left?” I look down at the clock on my cell phone and moan.

“Seventeen minutes!”

“Argh! I don’t even know what doors have doormats!”

“We can’t give up though! Al needs us! We just need to think!”

“I don’t think thinking is going to help with this one. Unless you can pull something from your nightmares to help us, Al’s as good as dead.”

“Don’t say that!”

“Well it’s true! All we have to go on is we’re looking for a locked door. Is there anything you can think of? Anything at all that didn’t fit in?”

“From what?”

“Your nightmares. You seem to have had a dream for everything that’s going to happen, isn’t there something that didn’t make any sense? Something that you could connect to this clue?”

“I wish.”

“Well,” she sighs. “At least I get to skip bed.”

“Huh?” I ask.

“Normally I’d be in World History right now.”

“Bed?” I mutter to myself. “Maybe you’re right! Maybe there is something from my nightmares that could help us!”

“What? We have about ten minutes left? If you’re getting an idea, you better hurry up and spit it out!” I begin to pace and think.

“The one thing from my nightmares that didn’t make any sense! The bed wetting.”

“How is that going to help us?” she asks in disbelief.

“Every single time I had a nightmare, I heard the words ‘Go to the bathroom before bed!’ right before I woke up.”

“So?”

“Don’t you get it!” I practically scream from excitement. “Go to the bathroom before bed! That’s what we have to do! We have to go to the bathroom before bed!”

“Okay, you’ve officially lost it.” She says.

“No! What does ‘bed’ mean to us?”

“Bed? It means a bed? Oh…You mean World History?” she asks, putting the pieces together.

“Yes! Now say it!”

“We have to…go to the bathroom before World History?” she asks still looking confused, still not getting it. “Oh!!!!!!” she screams jumping up. “We have to go to the broken down bathroom by the World History class!!”

“Exactly!” I scream as I pull out the key from the envelope. We both run as fast as we can until we reach it. I fumble with the key as I try to catch my breath and open it up. It’s completely dark inside, but we walk in anyway, the door snapping closed behind us.

“I can’t see anything!” Jaclyn complains, somewhere in front of me.

“Hold on.” I say as I pull out my cell phone to light the way. We look around for a second.

“It looks finished to me.” Jaclyn says. “There’s just a couple tools on the ground, but that’s it.” I spy the doormat and lift it up, revealing a big yellow key. The same yellow key from my dream.

“We have to go!” I yell as I look at the time. “We have four minutes! I’ve got the car key!”

We turn around to leave, but someone has joined us. Mr. Stinky.

“What did I tell you!” he says, sounding angry.

“How could you do that to her!” I yell.

“What are you talking about?” he asks, sounding annoyed.

“You locked Al in the trunk with a bomb! Don’t think I don’t know you’re an electrician!” I yell at him. He comes closer, reaching out his hand to attack. I step back and my foot hits something. A wrench. I quickly pick it up.

“Don’t come any closer!” I threaten him. He doesn’t listen; he comes closer, and closer. I close my eyes and hit him over the head with the wrench. We watch in horror as he falls to the ground, motionless. We hurry out as Jaclyn looks at me with amazement and horror. “You just killed our History teacher!’ she shouts.

“No I didn’t! I just knocked him out!’ I shout. I hope that’s all I did.

“Katie Devo did it in the laboratory with the wrench!”

“I did not! Now hurry up! We have three minutes!” I say as I begin to run away from the scene of the crime. He tried to kill Al first I remind myself.

“Where are we going?’ shouts from behind me.

“The teachers parking lot!” I shout back. “Two minutes left!” We run in and look around.

“What car is it?” she asks as we look around at all the different ones.

“I don’t know.” I realize in horror. “There!” I say as I recognize the white Nissan from last nights dream. We run over and I put the key in the lock and turn it, holding my breath. If this is the wrong key this thing will blow. Click. I open the trunk and we both gasp. We see the bomb, it reads 0:05, but it stopped. That’s the same weird clock from my dream I realize a moment too late.

“Five seconds to spare.” Jaclyn whispers. “Is Al okay?” I look and find her curled up in a ball, duck tape over her mouth, arms and legs.

“Al?” I cry, shaking her a little. Nothing. “Al!” I shout even louder, tearing the tape off her mouth. Nothing. “She won’t wake up.” I say to Jaclyn, a wave of tears filling my eyes.

“Let’s get her to Amanda.” Jaclyn says sounding panicked as well. “Help me lift her.” We grab each side of her and manage to pick her up and pull her out and somehow carry her all the way over to the office and inside the nurses’ station.

“Katie, what happened?” she asks as we set her down on the bed.

“She won’t wake up.” I cry softly. “Maybe we should get her to the hospital.” I say, looking down at Al’s unconscious body.

“She’ll be okay.” Amanda says, replacing the gum in her mouth with a fresh stick. “She just needs a minute.”

“Are you sure? I don’t know how long she was in the trunk for, she might have heat exhaustion or something.”

“She’ll be fine.” Amanda says.

“Ugh,” Al moans, struggling to open her eyes. Al! She’s Alive!

“Al!” both me and Jaclyn cry, rushing over to her side.

“Huh? What happened? Where am I?” She asks weakly.

“It’s okay now. I got him. You’re safe now; you’re in Amanda’s office.” I say hugging her even though she’s sweatier than me in a dentist’s office.

“Yeah, she hit him over the head with a wrench. He fell down faster than Katie in high heels.” Jaclyn says.

“Hey!”

“Well it’s true. Al? What’s wrong?” We look at her as her eyes widen with fear.

“Yeah, I’d be afraid picturing her in high heels too.” Al tries to jump up, but we quickly pin her back down on the bed.

“Al, what’s wrong?” I ask, fighting to keep her down.

“She must be remembering what happened.” Amanda says. “You think I could ask her a couple question?”

“Yeah sure.” We say.

“Alone.” She throws in after we don’t budge.

“Well, I guess.” I say, oblivious to Al’s sudden jolt. Me and Jaclyn step out as Amanda closes the door after us.

“I hope Al’s okay.” Jaclyn says. I nod my head in agreement, completely lost in thought. I’m so glad this is over! Al’s safe! Mr. Stinky’s out cold in a locked bathroom, and everyone’s alive. Maybe now I’ll even get my name cleared and I’ll be allowed to come back to school. Both mine and Al's mom, will stop thinking I’m a drug addict, and I can go back home! No way I’m spending another day in a attic.

“I wonder what they’re talking about.” Jaclyn says, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“I don’t know, probably about what she remembers.” I say.

“Then why do I hear a guy talking?” she asks.

“What?”

“Listen.” I put my ear to the door, and sure enough, I hear a guy, but not just any guy…Ryan. I quickly try to open the door, but it’s locked.

“Stand back. These are really cheap doors” Jaclyn says as she begins to back up, then runs forward and kicks the door open. My jaw drops, as I see Amanda trying to hold Al down with one hand, and a gun in the other.

“Why do you have so much energy? You’re supposed to be sick! Why hasn’t the mono kicked in yet?” Amanda says…but it’s not Amanda’s voice. It’s Ryan's.

“I don’t have mono.” Al says, trying to fight back.

“Didn’t you eat the candy?”

“The candy! You poisoned the candy!” I blurt out.

“Katie!” Al screams “Mr. Stinkly isn’t Ryan! He is!” she yelled, pointing to Amanda.

“You’re R-Ryan?” I stutter. “You can’t be! I-I told you stuff!”

“Yes.” He/she says, smiling. “You told me everything! You told me everything you knew! Now, all of you, on the bed!” he/she says, pointing the gun at us and kicking the door down with his/her foot.

“If you’re Ryan…then.” I say horrified, realizing I whacked my ex-history teacher over the head with a wrench. Oops.

“My brother is too weak.” He/she says. Brother? Did he say brother? “Twin actually.” He says, reading my mind. Twin? Oh…Ryan and Brian…smooth. "Now I have some unfinished business to take care of with you.” He says to Al, coming towards her.

“Wait!” she shouts. “Are you really my dad?” He smirks for a moment and then answers.

“Yes.”

“You’re going to kill your own daughter?” I ask.

“That’s not all I’m going to kill.” He says to me. “You’ve been a real pest and never minding your own business. Now you’re going to get what you’ve predicted all along! You’re going to watch your friends die, and then I’m going to kill you last!” He then turns his attention back to Al.

“Now say good-bye.” He says, lifting the gun towards her head. We watch in amazement as he suddenly falls to the floor unconscious, a wig falling off revealing a bald head. We look up and there’s Mr. Stinky, holding the same wrench in his hands.

“Are you girls okay?” he asks. We nod, too stunned to say anything. “Come with me.” We get up and begin to follow him, but a sudden thud catches my attention.

“Al!” I scream as she lays unconscious on the floor. “Al fainted again.” I say to Mr. Stinky who kneels down and checks her pulse. He then quickly picks her up and puts her on his shoulder.

“We need to get her to the hospital.” He says.


	20. Chapter 20

We’re at the hospital now. Al's awake , but they're having her stay over night. She doesn’t seem too happy about that, but we’re making her. The rooms already packed with people and we’ve only been here an hour. Me, Jaclyn, Mr. Stinky, Al’s mom, the principal, and half the Bible club, and sadly, Marissa. She still hasn’t gotten over the fact that I was given premonitions from God that saved Allison’s life and she wasn’t.

Oh, yeah, I’m the new class celebrity. I’ve already had to tell the story ten times, dreams and all. It’s getting tiring, but at least they don’t think of me as a 15 year- old- bed -wetting- freak. Now they think of me as a psychic -15 -year -old -bed -wetting-freak. Oh well, what matters now is that Al is safe. My reputation, or what’s left of it, isn’t important. Speaking of reputations, you’ll never guess what I caught Jaclyn doing on the way over here in the ambulance. Crying. I guess watching your friend almost die three times in one day, and then watching your own life flash before your eyes is enough to push even the strongest people over the edge.

If you think that’s scary, when I left to get something to drink, she followed me out and…HUGGED ME! She even said she was sorry for making fun of me about the whole bed wetting thing. Now I’ve seen it all, even if she did follow it with a “ tell anyone and you’re going to wish Ryan did kill you.”

Close enough.

“We did get something out of this.” I say to Jaclyn, sitting by ourselves in the hospital lounge.

“What’s that?” she asks as I pull out my key chain and hold up a smaller yellow key.

“I won’t tell if you won’t.” I say as she begins to laugh.

“Sweet! Our own private bathroom!”

I quickly hide it as Mr. Stinky comes down the hall and sits down next to us, holding a bag of ice on his head.

“I’m really sorry I hit you…again.” I say for the millionth time.

“It’s okay, I understand. You were only trying to protect Allison.”

“So…did you know?” Jaclyn asks.

“Know what? That he was transgender?”

“That Allison was your niece.” He seems startled for a second and then smiles, as if he just realized this.

“No, I didn’t. I knew Ryan had a daughter named Allison, but I didn’t know it was THIS Allison.”

“Well, now you have a family member you never knew about.”

“Speaking of family.” I say as Al’s mom joins us. “Hello, Ms. Walltz.” I say, pretending I don’t know she thinks I’m a crack whore.

“It’s okay, Katie.” She says. “I got the full story.”

“Huh?” I say, pretending I don’t know what she’s talking about.

“And I know you heard what I said about you. Allison told me.”

“Oh. Well, I promise, I don’t do drugs.”

“Yes, I heard about what happened. I’m so sorry I jumped to conclusions about you, and isn’t that my hair dye?” She said, then turning towards Mr. Stinky. “And you. I can’t thank you enough for saving her. She told me about how you knocked him out right before he was about to…That was very brave of you.” Me and Jaclyn bury our faces in our arms to keep from laughing at how red Mr. Stinky’s face just got.

“It was no problem at all Ms. Walltz.” He says a bit too quickly.

“Call me Julie.” She says, turning his face an even darker shade of red.

“Julie then. Call me Brian.”

“Okay, Brian.”

“So, uh, Julie. Would you like to uhh, get some coffee?”

“I’d love to.” She said as they got up and walked around the corner together. We lasted about ten seconds before busting out laughing.

“Uh-oh. Better tell Al her moms getting a little cozy with her history teacher.” I say.

“Even worse! It’s her mom and Uncle!” Jaclyn says, cracking the both of us up.

“Oh gosh…what if they dated?”

“Worse! What if they got married? What would Al call him?!” We both laugh even harder as we both say in unison, “Uncle Dad!”

“Katie!” I hear a voice call behind me. To my surprise I turn and find myself standing face to face with Jamie. “Are you okay? What happened?” he asks sounding practically hysterical.

“I’m fine. What’s up with you? You look like you just ran all the way over here.”

“Well first of all, I hear you got expelled, and then someone said they saw you being taken to the hospital in an ambulance.” He says, eyeing me from head to foot to make sure there isn’t some giant gash that went unnoticed the first ten times he looked me over.

“Oh, that well…it’s a long story. I’m fine though, it was Allison who was taken to the hospital, not me, I just came along.” I say, beginning to wonder why he’s staring at me like that.

“What happened? Is she okay?”

“Yeah, she’ll be fine. She’s in the other room if you want to see her.”

“In a minute.” He mumbles.

“Will you just ask her out already?” Jaclyn says as she walks by. Note to self: Kill Jaclyn.

“Ugh, ignore her.” I moan, giving her a glare over his shoulder.

He smiles understandingly. “Well…actually.” He begins and then stops.

“What?”

“Nothing.” He says to quickly.

“What? What were you going to say?”

“Nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“You know I’m not going to stop unless you tell me, so out with it!” Ah! Do I really want to know what he was going to say? What if he was going to say “well…actually…you’re not my type.” Or “Well…actually… we’re better as friends”

“I was going to say…” he says and then pauses. Uh-oh, he looks nervous. Here it comes; he’s going to tell me he doesn’t like me. I knew it. Okay, just do it and get it over with.

“I understand I’m not your type, don’t worry about it.” I blurt out. He looks at me strangely for a second, but then looks amused.

“Actually, I was going to say… I like you.” He says.

“It’s okay, I under-…wait…WHAT?!?” Okay, I need to clean my ears…I couldn’t have just heard what I thought I just heard…could I? I must be imagining things.“What did you just say? I think I’m hearing things.”

“I said I…like you.” He said turning an interesting shade of red I have never seen before. 

“Are you joking?” I ask just to make sure.

“Umm…no.” he says.

“So…you're 100 percent serious?” I ask looking him in the eye.

“Yes.”

“Well… I like you too.” I say quickly really hoping this isn’t a joke.

“Really?”

“Yeah.” I say as I notice him taking a step closer, and then another step and then another until he was barley an inch from my face.

Uh-oh…is he going to kiss me?! I don’t know how to kiss! What if I’m really bad at it and he changes his mind about me. What if I hit his head? How do I breathe? What if there’s a booger hanging out of my nose?!? And then a worse thought occurred to me.

“Umm…Jamie, I don’t think this is a very good idea…I have..”

“What? A boyfriend”

“No. It’s just I might have…” I begin, but then stop. “Nothing. It’s nothing.” I say with a devious smile on my face.

“Good.” He says leaning in closer.

☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺

When we get back to Al’s room, half the kids were gone, but someone new was there. My mom. I quickly let go of Jamie’s hand.

“Katie! There you are! I’ve been worried sick! First I get a call telling me to come pick you up because you’ve been expelled and when I get there, they tell me you ran away! Then today, they call me and tell me you’re at the hospital!” she yells. “What’s going on?” she demands.

“I can assure you, that in light of recent events, she is no longer expelled and that we expect to see her at school Monday morning.” The principal says, stepping in. “We can also gladly say the items we recovered from her locker, were not hers, but were in fact, planted to keep her away from…today’s events.”

“And what exactly were ‘today’s events’” she asks the principal, who in turn looks at me.

“No way!” I say. “I’ve told this story way too many times already. You’ve heard me say it. Can’t you tell it?” I beg. He sighs.

“Alright, I suppose I can.”

 

That is the last time I let him tell the story! If I hear the words “Extremely well trained staff” one more time, I think I’m going to puke.

“Thanks to our extremely well trained staff, who handled the situation very professionally, we were able to subdue Ryan, who is currently in police custody.” He says.

Excuse me one moment while I go hurl. Of course, he leaves out the little detail that Ryan was a member of his “extremely well trained staff”.

“Oh look, and there he is.” He says as Mr. Stinky enters the room, arms linked with…Julia. We look at Al, whose eyes are practically popping out of her skull.

“Mom!” she calls out. “You do know that’s-“

“I know he’s your History teacher, but he’s also a very nice man.” Al’s mom says as Mr. Stinky’s face turns red again.

“He’s also-“

“Now Allison, be nice, he did save your life after all.”

“Uncle Dad.” Jaclyn whispers to Al, who glares back.

“It’s not funny!” she says to us as we begin to crack up.

So here’s how it ends. It turns out that the dreams were premonitions, obviously. And the bed wetting happened to be the biggest clue of all. I still say that the phrase would have done just fine on its own, without actually wetting the bed. But Al says it’s because there was no way I would have paid enough attention to it if I wasn’t actually doing it. I guess she’s right; it wouldn’t have made any sense…but still.

As for Al’s mom, she’s officially dating Mr. Stinky, but we don’t call him that anymore. We call him Uncle Dad now.  
Poor Al, in the last twenty-four hours, she’s been locked in a trunk with a bomb, and held at gun point three times. To top it all off, she finds out she’s related to her history teacher, who then turns around and dates her mom. Pretty crazy day.

As for me, I haven’t wet the bed since. Can’t say I haven’t had any nightmares though. I had the Nightmare of all Nightmares. I dreamt my mom was dating my Algebra teacher. At least that’s never going to happen…I hope At least Al lets me spend the night at her house again. Jaclyn still isn’t so sure; she says she’s putting me on a probation period. If I go another month without re-decorating my sheets, I can come over.

Oh yeah, I really do have mono, so my mom’s finally letting me sleep! Only I could get a kissing disease from a piece of chocolate.

 

Top ten things I have learned from this experience.

10\. Jaclyn has a soul

9\. Don’t make promises on the spot (Now I have to write two papers   
on the Vietnam war! )

8\. What Allison’s mom actually thought of me.

7\. Alabama isn’t the only state with Uncle Dads running around.

6\. Your best friend being related to the teacher doesn’t improve  
your test grades.

5\. I should listen more carefully to what my friends are trying to  
tell me.

4\. Nothing is worse than turning into a frequent bed wetter.

3\. While the entire 10th grade class finds out live.

2\. While you’re stuck helplessly watching your reputation go  
down the drain.

Never suspect the history teacher; it’s always the nurse in drag.

Well, that’s what happened. It’s been the craziest month of my life and if I sit here on my foot any longer I may never walk on it again. I have to go now; I’m supposed to go drop Jamie’s homework off at his house. I talked to him earlier today…he’s says he’s been feeling really tired lately for some reason.

Oops…☺


End file.
